
Qass. , 

Bode "/• % y 



STATE EXPERIMENT STATION 



BULLETIN 



OF THE 



LOUISIANA 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

No. 4. 



UNDERGROUND WATER RESOURCES OF 
NORTHERN LOUISIANA 



BATON ROUGE 

1906 



^: og'-^pb 



/ 



Bull. No. 4 Report of 1905 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF LOUISIANA 

GILBERT D. HARRIS, Geologist-in-Chargb 



/^J^ 

■'6^ 



GEOLOGY 



UNDERGROUND WATER RESOURCES 



NORTHERN LOUISIANA 



NOTES ON ADJOINING DISTRICTS 



A. C. VEATCH 



Made under the Direction of the 

STATE EXPERIMENT STATIONS 

W. R. DODSON, Director 

1906 



Q{^ 



MOV 10 1908 



LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY 

AND A. & M. COLLEGE 

Louisiana State Board of Agriculture and Immigration 

EX-OFFICIO. 
Governor NEWTON C. BLANCHARD, President. 
H. L. FUQUA, Vice President Board Supervisors. 
CHARLES SCHULER, Commissioner of Agriculture and Immi- 
gration. 
THOMAS D. BOYD, President State University. 
W. R. DODSON, Director Experiment Stations. 

MEMBERS. 
JOHN DYMOXD, Belair, La. H. C. STRINGFELLOW, Howard, La. 
J. SHAW JONES, Monroe, La. C. A. TIEBOUT, Roseland, La. 
FRED SEIP, Alexandria, La. 

STATION STAFF. 
W. R. DODSON, A. B. B. S., Director, Baton Rouge. 
R. E. BLOUIN, M. S., Assistant Director, Audubon Park, New Orleans. 
J. G. LEE, B. S., Assistant Director, Calhoun, La. 
S. E. McCLENDOX, B. S., Assistant Director, Baton Rouge, La. 
H. P. AGEE, B. S., Chemist and Sugar Maker, Audubon Park, New 

Orleans. 
A. E. DODSON, Farm Manager, Audubon Park, New Orleans. 
J. K. McHUGH, Secretary and Stenographer, Audubon Park, New 

Orleans. 
G. D. HARRIS, M. S., M. A., Geologist, Baton Rouge. 

F. L. WHITNEY; Assistant Geologist, Baton Rouge. 
J. E. HALLIGAN, B. S., Chemist, Baton Rouge. 

J. A. HALL, Jr., B. S., Chemist, Baton Rouge. 

H. BARNES, Stenographer. 

HOWARD J. MILKS, D. V. S., Animal Pathology. 

H. R. FULTON, M. S., Vegetable Pathologist. 

R. I. MENVILLE, B. S,, Chemist, Baton Rouge. 

A. B. JOFFRION, B. S., Chemist, Baton Rouge. 

G. H. HARDIN, B. S., Assistant Chemist, Baton Rouge. 
ROGER P. SWIRE, Treasurer,' Baton Rouge, La. 

L. O. REID, Farm Manager, Baton Rouge, La. 

WILMON NEWELL, M. S., Entomologist, Baton Rouge, La. 

F. H. BURNETTE, Horticulturist, Baton Rouge, La. 

W. H. DALRYMPLE, M. R. C. V. S., Veterinarian, Baton Rouge, La. 

E. J. WATSON, Horticulturist, Calhoun, La. 

IVY WATSON, Farm Manager, Calhoun, La. 

J. G. LEE, Jr., Animal Husbandry, Calhoun, La. 

, Dairyman and Poultryman, Calhoun, La. 

The Bulletins and Reports will be sent free of charge to all farmers, 
by applying to the Director of the Stations, Baton Rouge, La. 



LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 

BY 

w. r. dodson 

State Experiment Station, 
Baton Rouge, La., Aug. i, 1906. 

To His Excellency, Newton C. Blanchard, Governor of 
Louisiana: 

Sir: — I have the honor to transmit herewith Bulletin No. 4 of 
the State Geological Survey. The investigation of the under- 
ground water resources of north Louisiana discussed in a pre- 
liminary way in Bull, i of this Report is herewith treated exhaust- 
ively by A. C. Veatch, a former employee of the State Survey. 

The desirability of the investigation must be patent to all, and 
the way it has been prosecuted leaves little to be desired. 

Respectfully submitted, 

W. R. DODSON. 



LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 

BY 

G. D. Harris 

Cornell University, 
.Ithaca, N. Y., July 15 ,1906. 

Dr. W. R. Dodson, Director of the Experiment Stations 
OF Louisiana: 

Sir: — I herewith transmit to you Bulletin No. 4 of the Louisi- 
ana State Geological Survey. 

The general plan and object of the investigation herewith 
reported upon has already been set forth in Bulletin No. i. 
Though the publication has been considerably delayed, the 
present paper is far more complete and satisfactory than it 
could have been if published when Mr. Veatch first left the State 
Survey and proceeded to investigate the surrounding States 
under the auspices of the United States Geological Survey. The 
complete report on all these areas has been published by 
the National Survey as Professional Paper No. 46, entitled, 
"Geology and Underground Water Resources, of Northern 
Louisiana and Southern Arkansas." Excerpts from this elabo- 
rate paper dealing with Louisiana territory form the sub- 
ject matter of this bulletin. It is believed that citizens of the 
state will find this bulletin amply exhaustive and much more 
convenient for reference than the quarto professional paper 
just referred to. 

Respectfully submitted, 

G. D. Harris. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Letters of Transmittal 5, 6 

Chapter I. Geology 13 

Introduction 13 

Outline of major features of present topography 13 

Historical geology 18 

Cretaceous 18 

Inlying areas of the upper Cretaceous in Northern Louisi- 
ana and eastern Texas , 18 

Tertiary 21 

Eocene 21 

Conditions of deposition 21 

Midway epoch 21 

Sabine epoch 22 

Claiborne epoch 22 

Jackson epoch - 23 

Major divisions 23 

Midway formation 23 

Sabine formation 26 

Claiborne formation 29 

> Cockfield member 31 

Jackson formation 33 

Undifferentiated Eocene 35 

Oligocene 36 

Conditions of deposition 36 

Vicksburg formation 37 

Catahoula fonnation 38 

Fleming clay ; . . 40 

Miocene and early Pliocene 42 

Late Pliocene 43 

Lafayette fonnation 43 

Conditions of deposition. 43 

Present distribution 43 

Quaternary 46 

Pleistocene 46 

Late Tertiary and early Quaternary erosion 46 

Port Hudson deposition 49 

Conditions of deposition 49 

Deposition of the loess 52 

Erosion of the Port Hudson deposits. 52 

Diversion of Ouachita River near Harrisonburg, 

La 55 



viii Contents 



Chapter I. Geology— Continued. 
Historical geology — Continued. 
Quarternaiy — Continued. 
Erosion — Continued. 

Transverse channels of Bayou Bartholomew, 

Boeuf River, and Deer Creek 56 

Difference in level between the Ouachita and 
Mississippi flood plains at the Louisiana- 
Arkansas State line 57 

Formation of natural mounds 57 

General character and theories of origin 57 

Spring and gas- vent theory 59 

Dune theory 61 

Ant-hill theory 61 

Recent 64 

Structure 65 

Broader structural features resulting from causes associated 

with conditions of deposition 65 

Changes by subsequent orographic movements 66 

Domes 66 

Angelina-Caldwell flexure 67 

Red River-Alabama Landing fault 68 

Local structural features 68 

Dip of strata 69 

Chapter II. General underground water conditions 70 

Introduction 70 

Source of underground water 70 

Nature of movement of underground water 70 

Zones of saturation 72 

Main ground- water table 73 

Perched ground- water tables 73 

Variations of pressure or head 74 

Causes producing artesian or flowing wells 75 

Principal water-bearing horizons 76 

Eocene horizons 78 

Sabine water sands 78 

Pressure 78 

QuaHty 78 

Availability 79 

Water-bearing value of Claiborne (lower) formation 79 

Cockfield water sands 80 

Pressure 80 

Quality 81 

Availability 81 



Contents ix 

PAGE 

Chapter II. General Underground Water Conditions — Continued 
Principal water-bearing horizons — Continued 

Oligocene horizons 82 

Catahoula water sands 82 

Pressure 82 

Quality 82 

Availability 82 

Waters in the surficial sands and gravels 82 

Lafayette and Port Hudson 82 

Pressure 83 

Quality 83 

Mineral springs and mineral waters 83 

Hygienic value of deep well waters 85 

Pine Bluff, Ark 86 

Ruston, La 86 

Spring Hill, La 86 

Zimmerman, La 87 

Boyce, La 87 

History of development 88 

Chapter III. Methods and cost of well making 90 

Methods 90 

Driven wells 91 

Bored wells 92 

Arkansas clay auger 92 

Punched wells 95 

Simple drop drill or cable rig 97 

Automatic sand-pumping outfit 99 

Jetting process loi 

Rotary process _ 103 

Core drills '. 107 

Finishing a water well 108 

Cost of deep wells 109 

Chapter IV. Underground water prospects, by counties... 113 

Northern Louisiana 113 

Avoyelles Parish 113 

Bienville Parish 113 

Bossier Parish 114 

Caddo Parish 115 

Caldwell Parish. .• ; 116 

Catahoula Parish 117 

Claiborne Parish , 119 

Concordia Parish 119 

De Soto Parish 119 

East Carroll Parish 120 

Franklin Parish 121 



X Contents 

PAGE 

Chapter IV. Underground water prospects, by counties — Con- 
tinued. 
Northern Louisiana — Continued. 

Grant Parish. : . 121 

Jackson Parish. .'.... 123 

Lincoln Parish 123 

Madison Parish • 124 

Morehouse Parish 124 

Natchitoches Parish 125 

Ouachita Parish 127 

Rapides Parish 127 

Red River Parish 128 

Richland Parish • 129 

Sabine Parish 129 

Tensas Parish 130 

Union Parish 131 

Vernon Parish 131 

Webster Parish ■ 132 

West Carroll Parish ; 132 

Winn Parish 133 

Table of wells and springs, in northern Louisiana. 134 

Descriptive notes 157 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Plate Page. 

XXV. Salient topographic features of the Gulf Coastal Plain 

in northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas i6 

XXVI. Maps showing relative positions of land and water areas 

during Cretaceous-Tertiary epochs i8 

XXVII. Preliminary geologic map of northern Louisiana and 

southern Arkansas 19 

XXVIII. Noted fossiliferous Jackson outcrop at Montgomery, 

La 34 

XXIX. Lower' falls, Mint Spring Bayou, Vicksburg, showing 

bedded limestone in the Vicksburg formation 37 

XXX. View of the Catahoula formation near Lena, La., on 

the Texas and Pacific Railway 38 

XXXI . Escarpment on the southern edge of the Marksville Hills 

— a Pont Hudson terrace, in Avoyelles Parish, La. 50 
XXXII. A, B, Small sand cones forming over gas and water 

vent near Teneha, Shelby County, Tex 60 

XXXIII. Mud cones near Douglaston, Long Island, N. Y 61 

XXXIV. Low circular dunes produced by the lodging of sand 

or dust about low desert vegetation in' White Valley, 

western Utah 63 

XXXV. Goodwin Shoals or Rapids on Sabine River near 

Columbus, La 66 

XXXVI. Profile showing recent fault in the Ouachita bottoms 

near Alabama Landing, La 68 

XXXVII. Principal structCiral features of the Coastal Plain 
in northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas, 
with some of the important structural features 

of adjoining areas 69 

XXXVIII. Hydrologic cross sections 70 

XXXIX. Map showing variations in head of water in the Sabine 

sands in northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas . 7 4 
XL. Map of Sabine artesian reservoir in northern Louisi-- 

ana and southern Arkansas 78 

XLI. Map of Cockfield artesian reservoir in northern Lou- 
isiana and southern Arkansas 80 

XLII. Map of Catahoula artesian reservoir in central Lou- 
isiana 82 

XLI II. Well-boring and well punching tools 92 

XLIV. Tools of an Arkansas well-boring outfit 95 

XLV-XLVI. Well-boring outfit of G. B. Hipp, of Garlandville, 

Ark 97 



Xll 



Illustrations 



Plate 

XLVII. 

XLVIII. 

XLIX 

L 



Page. 

Cable rig or drop-drill outfit 99 

Automatic sand-pumping process 103 



Jetting process 

Rotary process 

Fig. 18. The lakes of Red River Valley at their fullest recorded 
development 

19. Cross section at Drakes Salt Works, Louisiana 

20. North-south section showing Lafayette and younger 

gravels passing beneath the clays of the Port Hudson 
and supplyingartesian wells in southern Louisiana 

2 1 . Sketch topographic map near Many, Sabine Parish, La . . 

22. Section near Many, La., showing typical fiat-bottdmed 

character of small stream valleys in northern Louisiana 
and southern Arkansas 

23. Section from Monticello, Ark., to the Gulf of Mexico, 

near Abbeville, La., showing relation of-the Hamburg 
Terrace, Bastrop Hills, Catahoula Prairie, and Avoyelles 
Hills to the coastal prairies 

24. Change in Ouachita River drainage near Harrisonburg, 
' La 

2 5 . Diagram illustrating the deflection of Ouachita River and 
formation of Catahoula Shoals near Harrisonburg, La. 

26. African termite hill 

27. Annual rainfall in northern Louisiana and southern 

Arkansas 

28. A cross section on Long Island, New York, showing 

the relation of a perched water table to the main water 
table and the production of springs dependent on a 
perched water table 

Experimental illustration of loss of head by resistance 
and leakage 

Diagram showing common arrangement of factors pro- 
ducing artesian wells 

Method of jumping rock drill in Arkansas well rig 

A well-shaped self-cleaning or automatic sand pumping 
drill , 100 

A badly shaped self-cleaning drill 100 

Diagram showing natural strainer of coarse material 
formed about screen by pumping out the finer sand. ... 108 
35. Wells in the vicinity of Shreveport, Caddo Parish, La. . . . il6 



29 



30 



105 
107 

17 



44 
48 



49 



51 

54 

55 
62 

72 



GEOLOGY AND UNDERGROUND WATER RESOURCES 

OF NORTHERN LOUISIANA WITH NOTES 

ON ADJOINING DISTRICTS 



BY 

A . C. Veatch 



CHAPTER I 

GEOLOGY 
INTRODUCTION 

OUTLINE OF MAJOR FEATURES OF PRESENT TOPOGRAPHY 

Topographically northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas 
form an area which is divisible into two major provinces, the 
Quachita Mountains and the Gulf Coastal Plain. 

The Ouachita Mountains province is a region of relatively great 
and rugged relief, ranging from 500 to 2,000 feet above sea level 
and composed of roughly parallel ridges separated by deep, flat- 
bottomed valleys. It is underlain by a much folded, steeply 
inclined, deeply eroded series of Paleozoic sandstones, shales, 
and limestones, and has been developed from the slightly arched 
surface of an old peneplain by the erosion of the softer beds. 

The Gulf Coastal Plain is an area of low and rounded relief, 
extending in this region from 3 ' to 600 feet above sea level 

' The elevation of extreme low water in the Mississippi at Red River 
Landing, November 14, 1895 (Ann. Rept. Chief of Engineers for 1900, pt. 
4, 1900, pp. 2543-2544). According to the maps of the Mississippi River 
Commission the beds of Red, Ouachita, and Mississippi rivers and of 
Bayou Macon and Boeuf and Tensas rivers often extend to considerable depths 
below sea level; thus the Mississippi at Vicksburg (Klineston) reaches a 
depth of 58 feet below sea level, at Fort Adams 112 feet, and at Miles Land- 
ing, 4 miles below the mouth of Red River, 127 feet. 

261 



Geologic history of 



Geologic subdivisions. 



o iJ 



AUuviurn. 



CHARACTERISTIC 



Deposition. 



Thickness. 



Feet. 



20 + 



Port Hudson formation. 



lyafayette formation. 



Character. 



Veneer of sand, silt, and clay on flood-plains. 



Abnormal deposits of silt in Red River Valley 
resulting from the obstruction by the " great 
raft." 



lo- 50 



Fleming clay. 



Catahoula formation. 



Vicksburg formation. 



Jackson formation. 



— , Cockfield mem- 
ber of Claiborne.3 



Claiborne formation. 



Sabine formation. 



Formation of natural mounds. 



Marine deposits on the coast and fluviatile 
deposits in the river valleys, partly filling the 
broad valleys developed in the preceding ero- 
sion cycle. 



Rearrangement of surficial sands and gravels 
at ne'sv levels as erosion progressed. 



A mantle of silt, sand, and gravel spread by 
combined marine and river action over the 
relatively even surface of the Coastal Plain and 
in the tributary valleys. 



Green calcareous clays, with a few brackish- 
water fossils. 



Near-shore deposit.'; sandstones occasionally 
quartzitic, and greeu clays, with fresh-watei" 
shells and land plants. 



Liniestonesand calcareous, somewhat ligniti- 
ferous, clays, containing marine shells. 



Midway formation. 



200- 500 



Highly fossiliferous shallow-water marine 
sandy calcareous clay. 



Lignitiferous sands and 
clays, with land plants. 



Fossiliferous sandy clay, 
containing shallow-water 
marine shells. 



Lignitifetous sands and 
clays, with plants and occa- 
sional beds of marine 

shells. 



I,andward these 
formations merge 
into lignitiferous 
sands and clays 
without distinc- 
tive marine fos- 
sils. 



Limestones and black calcareous clays. 



1 Normal thickness in northern IvOuisiana not known because of the widespread and irregular 
deposition. In southern Louisiana the beds are much thicker than here given. 

2The Jackson, Claiborne, and Sabine formations, which are fossiliferous and distinct in central 
I,ouisiana, grade into lignitiferous beds containing no distinct fossils as they go northward. In the 



262 



northern Louisiana. 



ACTIVITIES. 




General degradation of the hill lands. Along- 
Red River in Louisiana the resurrection of buried 
channels and the drainage of lakes produced .by 
the " great raft." On the Sabine the partial wear- 
ing out of shoals produced by the recent move- 
ment of the Rockland-Vicksburg flexure. 



Partial removal of valley fillings and production 
of present flood-plains and principal terraces. 



Long and complex period of erosion, with the 
land lOO feet higher than to-day, in which the for- 
mations of the Coastal Plain were profoundly dis- 
sected and the major features of the present topo- 
graphy produced. 



A period of erosion, probably composed of 
several stages, in which the Coastal Plain in this 
region was essentially base-leveled. 



Beds separated by a pronounced break in the 
fauna, which is, at present, the only indication of 
a very serious break in sedimentation. 



Deformation. 



A slight upward movement at the west end of the 
Rockland-Vicksburg fle.vure is producing rapids 
on Sabine and Angelina rivers. 

A recent movement of 25 feet along the line of the 
Red River-Alabama Landing fault has resulted in 
the swamping of Ouachita River Vallev to a point 
above the mouth of Bayou Moro in Arkansas. 



After the main development of the Angelina- 
Caldwell flexure the beds were faulted along a line 
extending from a point near Denison, Tex., 
through Alabama Landing, Union Parish, La. 
The downthrow of this fault is to the north and 
the break approximatelj' boo feet. 



The low fold which extends from the vicinity of 
Angelina County, Tex., to a point north of Vicks- 
burg, Miss., and which is now a line of weak- 
ness, began to develop in late Oligocene or early 
Miocene time North of this line the older beds 
are now nearly horizontal; to the south they dip at 
a rate of from 35 to 150 feet per mile. 



The domes developed during late Cretaceous and 
early Eocene time show a slight movement in 
post-Claiborne time, but the amount is very small 
when compared with the initial movements. 



The great north-and-south fault of the Coastal 
Plain of Texas (the Balcones fault) developed late 
in the Cretaceous. In Louisiana peculiar domes or 
four-sided folds were produced and reached their 
major development in the late Cretaceous or early 
Eocene. About the same time masses of igneous 
rocks of limited area were intruded into the 
Paleozoic rocks and Coastal Plain beds in southern 
Arkansas. In central Texas similar occurrences 
took place as early as the Austin epoch. The Louisi- 
ana and northeastern Texas domes are thought to 
be due to the upthrust of similar igneous intru- 
sions. 



region under discussion the fossiliferous Jackson limits this lignitiferous complex above. Still farther 
north, however, the Jackson also grows lignitiferous and merges with the rest. The Midway, likewise, 
in the upper embayment region shows a decidedly lignitiferous tendency and may in places merge with 
the lignitiferous time equivalents of the other Eocene beds. 

3 A group without distinctive marine fossils, probably almost wholly of Claiborne age. 

263 



i6 Geoiy. SuRv. IvA. Report OF 1905 [buivL. 4 

(PL xxvii). It is underlain by a series of relatively soft 
strata, dipping on the whole gently seaward, in which the 
present topography has been formed entirely by the profound 
dissection of an old plain level. The surface of this old plain has 
now been almost completely destroyed (PI. xxv, C and D), and 
the region presents two principal topographic divisions — (i) the 
hill lands and (2) the flood-plain and terrace areas (PI. xxv, B); 
the former representing the uplands formed of rolling hills, 
composed largely of the older beds of the Coastal Plain, and the 
latter the lowlands, flat or benchlike in character, composed of 
redeposited sediments of rather recent fluviatile origin. 

In the flood-plain region three features of very recent origin 
are to be noted — (i) the greater depth of Ouachita River Valley 
in southern Arkansas as compared with the Mississippi Valley 
at the same latitude (PL xxv, C); (2) the shoals and rapids 
which are found in the midst of strips of mature topography on 
Angelina River near its mouth, along Sabine River from Pen- 
dleton to Burrs Ferry, particularly near Columbus (PL xxxv, 
on Red River near Alexandria, and on numerous small tribu- 
tary and distributary channels in the Red River flood-plain 
between latitude 32° and 33°, and on Ouachita River at Catahoula 
Shoals (figs. 24, 25), and (3) the lakes which occur or which for- 
merly occurred in the lower part of each of the streams tributary to 
Red River between Alexandria and the Arkansas-L,ouisiana State 
line (fig 18). Theselakes are themostimportantrecent topographic 
features of this region, having been formed since the fifteenth 
century, but now the cause of their formation having passed, they 
are returning to their normal status as tributary streams. 
Several no longer exist, though still represented on maps because 
of the lack of recent detailed surveys. 

In the hill lands the general character of the topography is 
irregular and rolling, the hills rising 100 to 200 feet above the 
flat-bottomed stream channels which extend in every direction, 
but the unequal hardness of the underlying beds has given rise 
to several transverse ranges of hills, which are more or less 
persistent for many miles and follow the general strike of the 
formations producing them. Of these the Kisatchie Wold^ (PL 
xxv. A), which is produced by the hard sandstone layers in the 

264 



La. Gkoi,. Surv. 



Report of 1905, Bull. 4, Pl. XXV. 




V 







The Lockesbure, Saratoga, Sulphu 
and Kisatchie wolds. 



{zj::: 




than 400 feet 
gulf level. 



SALIENT TOPOGRAPHIC FEATURES OF THE GULF COASTAL PLAIN 
IN NORTHERN LOUISIANA AND SOUTHERN ARKANSAS. 



A.O.VEATOH. 



50 100 



From U.S. Geol. Sur 



veatch] Undkrground Water of Northern La. 



17 



Catahoula (Grand Gulf) formation, is perhaps the most important. 
Others are the Sulphur Wold, formed by the sandy beds of the 
lower Eocene, and the Saratoga and Locksburg Wolds, by 
Cretaceous formations. The transverse valley or vale' to the 




FromU. S. Geol. Surv. 
Fio 18. — The lakes of Red River Valley in Louisiana at their fuile&t development. 



north of the Sulphur Wold, though not very well marked, has 
determined the location of the Iron Mountain Railway between 
Little Rock and Texarkana. 

Over all the Coastal Plain, except in the steeper hill areas and 
the most recent flood plains, are low, circular, mound-like 
elevations that are in themselves of minor significance, but are 
relatively important because of their persistence and wide distri- 
bution. They are from 20 to 100 feet in diameter and attain a 



^For definitiou and derivation of the terms wold and vale see Prof. Paper 
U. S. Geol. Survey No. 44, 1906, p. 29. 

265 



i8 



Geol. Surv. La. Report of 1905 



[bvlt.. 4 



maximum elevation of 6 feet. They are particularly abundant 
in the terrace areas, where in wet weather they form low, sandy 
islands in the midst of a water-covered clay country. Their origin 
is one of the most interesting and perplexing problems of the 
region. 

HISTORICAL GEOLOGY 

CRETACEOUS 
INLYING AREAS OF THE UPPER CRETACEOUS IN NORTHERN 
IvOUISIANA AND EASTERN TEXAS 
Disturbances during the late Cretaceous or very early Eocene 
resulted in the formation of a number of steep domes or four- 
sided folds (quaquaversals) on the sea bottom in what is 
now northern Louisiana and eastern Texas (PI. xxxviii). 




:"'ir ... - i 



■J, --, .' I 1.'."- AJ] 



?- ^- 



'A "ti- 




Fig. 19. — Cross section at Drakes Salt "Works, Louisiaua, showing locationof shallow 
brine wells and symmetrical truncated character of dome. 

Whether the forces producing these unique domes were in any 
way associated with those producing intrusions farther north it 
is as yet impossible to say; but the irregularity of their distribu- 
tion, the great symmetry of all the domes which have been care- 
fully studied^, the difficulty of explaining this symmetry by any 
manner of folding not associated with igneous intrusions, and 
the suggestion which this symmetry carries of force applied at 

3 See Veatch, A. C, The salines of northern Louisiana: Geo]. Survey 
Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, pp. 41-100; Pis. xviii-xxii. 



266 



IvA. Geol Surv. 




(A) EARLY IjOW^ER CRETACEOUS 




(C) liATE CRETACEOUS AND EARLY TERTIARY 



Relative positions of land and water areas in the south-central U. 
and all shaded areas. Land: Unshaded portions of present land. 



Report of 1905, Rui.i.. 4, Pi,. XXVI. 




(B) EARLY UPPER CRETACEOUS 




(D) EARLY OLIGOCENE TERTIARY 



iring the Cretaceous Tertiary epochs. Water: Present Guli of Mexico 



^ 



La. Geoi,. Surv. 



Report of 1905, Buti,. 4, Pi,. XXVII. 

LEGEND 




ED 


if t UHsjnidnl lm-*> 


1 >* 


1 




" t(l 


1 ^ 1 


,.,„ 


rroasi plants 


1 




/ 


t ^wna^Bltum 


1 n ii ill> forbnck 


K. Uird 


uibaUasLud 



From V. S. Gsol.Sutv 



AK ^f '^^™'''*''^^ GKotoGrCAi. Map ok Northrrn Lopishna 
ADndged from Veatch's map. PI. III., professional paper No. 46. 



vhatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 19 

oue point from below, just as a sharp-pointed little dome might 
be formed in a sheet of dough by pushing upward with a blunt 
pencil, indicate similar igneous intrusions beneath these great 
thicknesses of relatively plastic, recently deposited Cretaceous 
sediments as the cause of these domes/ 

Whatever their true origin, the sea floor showed, near the 
close of the Cretaceous, or in the early Tertiary, a series of steep- 
sided, more or less circular elevations. These elevations would 
naturally modify the conditions existing in the portions of the 
sea where they were sufficiently contiguous to materially interrupt 
the oceanic circulation, and it is perhaps to such an interruption 
by the Texas group of domes that the salt deposits of Grand 
Saline, Tex., are due. 

These domes were entirely buried by the Eocene sediments, 
and as the twelve which have thus far been found in northern 
Louisiana and eastern Texas (PI. xxxvii) all occur in valleys 
(Pis. XXVII, XXXVIII, sec. F) flanked by hills of Tertiary strata 
and their exposure is due to more or less accidental conditions of 
erosion, it is quite probable that others will be encountered when 
the country is more thoroughly prospected. This probability 
introduces a decided element of uncertainty into the artesian- 
well prospects of this region. 

In determining the amount of deformation represented it is 
necessary to ascertain with some degree of accuracy the age or 
stratigraphic position of the beds exposed in these domes. At 
the Anderson^ and Brooks* salines in Texas and at the Bisteneau, 
Kings, and Rayburns salt works in Louisiana' fossil shells, such 
as Exogyra coslata, Gryphcra vesicularis,^ Ostrea larva, and other 
forms representing an uppermost Cretaceous fiuaa, have been 
found in limestone or chalk-marl deposits. These beds are the 



•*See footnote p 66. 

5 Dumble, E. T., Second Ann. Rept. Gaol. Survey Texas, 1891, pp. 304, 305. 

* Herndon, J. H., Second Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Texas, iSgr, p. 223. 

7 Veatch, A. C , Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1902 [1902], pp.73, 74, 
78, 86-87. 

^ The variety which Tafif figures as characteristic, in Arkansas, of the base 
of the Saratoga or niid-IMarlbrook formation: Twenty-second Ann. Rept. 
U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 3, 1902, pis,, 51, 52. 

267 



20 Geoi.. Surv. L,a. Report of 1905 [bui^i,. 4 

lithologic and paleontologic counterparts of the Marlbrook divi- 
sion of the Arkansas section, and may be tentatively referred to 
it. If of Marlbrook age the displacement to the present top of 
the dome is 1,100 feet (PI. xxxviii, sec. D) The original 
height of the top of the dome is not known, but the present 
truncated top is i^ miles in diameter, and the removed portion 
must have had a thickness of many hundred feet. The known 
displacement at Kings and Rayburns is about the same, but the 
total displacement was probably somewhat less, as is indicated by 
the smaller area of their truncated tops. 

The beds exposed in the Winnfield dome are nonfossiliferous, 
light- colored, porous crystalline limestone in which the cavities 
are filled with sharp calcite crystals. Similar porous limestones 
of great thickness have been encountered in wells at Drakes (904, 
994) and Cedar lyick, two miles south of Winnfield (999), and as 
the structure in all these cases is the same as that at the localities 
carrying Cretaceous fossils, and as the limestones are totally differ- 
ent from any of the Tertiary sediments in this region, they are 
regarded as Cretaceous deposits which have been altered by the 
pressure and heat produced in forming the domes. These marbles 
could not have been formed from any of the beds above the 
Marlbrook, and they are therefore regarded as Marlbrook or older. 
The deformation represented is therefore in the neighborhood 
of 2,000 feet (PI. XXXVIII, sec. C). 

At Coochie Brake, Drakes, and Prices Salt Works very 
arenaceous limestones, containing leaf impressions, are found in 
the domed areas. These, if Cretaceous — and it is difiicult to see 
how they may be Tertiary— represent either the Nacatoch or the 
Bingen. At Drakes the diameter of the truncated dome is about 
a mile, and the observed angle of slope on one side is 45°. This 
indicates that the strata removed may have had a thickness of as 
much as 2,000 feet and that the total deformation may be 3,000 
or 4,000 feet. 

The deformation at the Many dome, which is capped with Mid- 
way limestone, is almost the total thickness of the Sabine in this 
region, or between 800 and 1,000 feet. 

The greater part of the movements represented in these domes 
took place in late Cretaceous or early Tertiary time, certainly 

268 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 21 

before the deposition of the Sabine sediments, which show no 
signs of deformation of this magnitude. However, it seems 
probable that these points have been the loci of slight movements 
since that time, and that the relatively great dip of the Claiborne 
beds immediately surrounding the Winnfield dome is due to such 
a slight movement rather than entirely to deposition on a highly 
inclined surface. 

TERTIARY 

EOCENE 
CONDITIONS OF DEPOSITION 

The change from the Cretaceous to the Tertiary in this region 
is much more of a paleontologic than a stratigraphic break ; many 
of the genera and all of the species of moUusks inhabiting the 
Cretaceous sea disappeared at the close of the Cretaceous, as if 
by magic, to be replaced by the entirely new fauna which inhabited 
the Eocene ocean. 

No stratigraphic break at all commensurate with the paleonto- 
logic break has been discovered in this region, and the abrupt 
change in the animal life is, as Dana suggests, ' perhaps due more 
to an alteration in the direction and character of the ocean 
currents, with the consequent change in temperature and food 
supply, and to the destructive effects of earthquake waves 
resulting from the gigantic disturbances which produced the 
Rocky Mountains, than to a time lapse. 

Midway epoch. — Certainly the earliest Eocene deposits, the 
Midway formation, are sediments indicating depths and distribu- 
tion of water which are but the normal continuation of the 
Cretaceous conditions to which cycle of deposition they seem 
more properly to belong. This fact, with the presence of the 
Midway on the top of two of the domes, at Kings and Many, 
suggests that the domes were formed as late as the beginning of 
the Sabine. 

The shore line of this early Eocene ocean was roughly parallel 
to that of the late Cretaceous sea, and the slight deepening of 
the water which permitted the formation of the Midway limestone , 



'Manual of Geology, 4th ed., 1895, pp. S77-J 

269 



22 GEOL. SURV. lyA. RERORT OF 1905 [BUI.L. 4 

together with a slight warping, allowed the ocean to advance 
farther up the Mississippi embayment than before, and made 
possible the deposition of marine fossils in southern Illinois," 
while marine Cretaceous fossils have not been found north of 
northern Tennesee." 

Sabine epoch. — The Mississippi embayment at this time was 
relatively shallow and fiat-bottomed — its piesent depth of perhaps 
3,000 feet at Memphis being the result of very gradual warping 
accompanied by a deposition which kept pace with the lowering 
and which extended through the whole Eocene — and a slight 
elevation was sufficient to convert it into a great low-lying swamp, 
or marsh, occasionally submerged by the ocean. The conditions 
were favorable for the growth of shallow-water marine mollusca 
only as far north as Sabine Parish in lyouisiana, about 30° north 
latitude, and in eastern Alabama about the latitude of Meridian, 
Miss., and even here there was an alternation of marine near- 
shore and swampy conditions. These deposits constitute the 
Sabine formation. Above these swamps, or out of the shallow- 
water sea, the domes projected as a unique series of circular hills, 
and as the progressive subsidence continued they were gradually 
buried beneath the swamp, estuarine, and shallow-water marine 
deposits, doubtless undergoing in the process more or less erosion 
from atmospheric agencies and ocean waves. 

Claiborne epoch. — A slight depression, or perhaps it would be 
better to say a slight excess of the rate of depression over the 
rate of sedimentation, in eastern Texss and along the embayment 
caused the marine fauna to extend farther northward and to 
reach in the embayment region a point a little north of the thirty- 
third parallel. Still farther north, where the water was not deep 
enough, or river sediments prevented the growth of marine forms, 
the deposition of the lignitiferous sands and clays containing no 
marine fossils, which had begun at the close of the Midway, con- 
tinued. A slight elevation, greater in lyouisiana and Texas than 



'°Worthen, Geol. Survey Illinois, vol. i, i855, pp. 44.-46 ; Loagliridge, 
Geol. Survey Kentucky, Rept. on Jackson's Purchase Region, 1888. pp. 4f- 
52 ; Harris, Geol. Survey L,ouisiana, Rept. of 1902 [1902], p. 9. 

" Loughridge, Geol. Survey Kentucky, Rept. on Jackson's Purchase 
Region, 1888, p. 32. 

270 



veatch] Undkrground Water ok Northern La. 23 

in Alabama, converted the shallow, flat sea bottom of the early 
portion of the Claiborne epoch into a coastal or estuarine marsh, 
and in western Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas from 200 to 500 
feet of lignitiferous claj's and sands with no marine fossils were 
laid down before the gradual oscillation of this region or changes 
in climatic conditions again permitted a northward transgression 
of the marine fauna. This group of sediments is called the 
Cockfield member of the Claiborne. 

Jackson epoch. — Following the Cockfield deposition, conditions 
were favorable for the growth of marine forms to a point some- 
what north of Memphis. This, the Jackson epoch, completed the 
main filling of the embayment area. 

In the succeeding Oligocene and Miocene time the shore line 
retreated gulfvvard, and there is no evidence that during these 
ages there was more than a gentle curve in the coast line in the 
region of the old Mississippi embayment (PI. xxvi, D). 

MAJOR DIVISIONS OF THE EOCENE 

The Eocene about latitude 31° 30' north is composed of the 
following major paleontologic subdivisions : (i) The Midway, 
characterized by fossiliferous limestone, but containing some 
blue clay ; (2) the Sabine, composed of lignitiferous sands and 
clays, with marine fossils in the seaward or southern portions ; 
(3) the Claiborne, composed of very fossiliferous calcareous clay 
in its lower portion and lignitiferous sands and clays, with no 
marine fossils, in its upper (Cockfield member) ; and (4) the 
Jackson, composed of fossiliferous calcareous clays. In the upper 
portion of the embayment all the beds become lignitiferous and 
lose to a greater or less extent their distinctive marine fossils. 
This lignitiferous complex, which can be separated only on purely 
stratigraphic grounds, is discussed and mapped in this report as 
"undifferentiated Eocene " (p. 35). 

MIDWAY FORMATION '^ 

This formation, which was named by Smith and Johnson in 
1887 from a landing on the west side of the Alabama River in 



'Synonymy of the Midway formation: 

= Mid\vay stage, Harris (Bull. Am. Pal., vol. i, 1896, pp. 1113). 
= Midwayan stage, Dall (Eighteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey 
1898, table opp. p. 334. 

271 



24 Gkol. Surv. La. Report of 1905 [bui,i<. 4 

Wilcox County, Ala./"" and redefined by Harris'"* to include a 
paleontologic group bounded below by the Cretaceous and above 
by the Nanafalia beds of the Sabine (L,ignitic),has been traced 
more or less intermittently along the southern edge of the 
Cretaceous outcrops — or where they are missing, as in the 
uppermost and western parts of the Mississippi embay ment, 
along the Paleozoic rocks — from Georgia to Colorado River in 
Texas and perhaps to the Rio Grande. 

As already indicated, its lithologic characters are more siinilar 
to the underlying calcareous Cretaceous clays and marls than to 
the overlying lignitiferous beds of the Sabine. Although this 
formation is composed of irregularly bedded dark-colored calcar- 
eous clays with more or less sand, it is generally characterized 
by the absence of the lignitic material so common in the overlying 
Sabine formation and by a bed or beds of impure white limestone 
10 to 25 feet thick, which, because of its lithologic resemblance, 
was for a long time correlated with the Cretaceous. In common 
with other beds of the Kocene, it contains Venericardia planicosta, 



= Basal or Wills Point clays, Penrose (First Ann. Rept. Geol. Sur- 
vey Texas, 1890, pp. 19-22). 

= Midway (or Clayton )-fSucarnochee or Black Bluff -j-Nalieola or 
Matthews Landing, Smith et al. (Bull. U.S. Geol. Survey No. 
43, 1887, p. 18; Geology of the Coastal Plain of Alabama Geol. Sur- 
vey Alabama, 1894, p. 27). 

>Porter Creek group, Safford (Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser., vol. 37, 1864, 
p.368). 

>Flatwoods clays, Hilgard (Agriculture and Geology of Mississippi, 
i860, pp. no, in: Prcc. Am. Assoc, Adv. Sci., vol. 20, 1871, p_ 
222; Am. Jour. Sci. ,3d ser., vol. 2, 1871, p. 391). 

= Middletou formation, Safford (Bull. Geol. Soc. America, vol. 3, 
iS92,pp. 511, 512). 
Note. — in this and the several s5'ononym tables following, the symbols 
used have the following meanings: 

= Equal to in every respect. 

= Equal in a general way. 

>Less than. 

< Greater than. 

^Not equal to, 
^3Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 43, 1887, p. 62. 

^*Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Arkansas for 1892, vol. 2, 1894, pp. 8, 9, 22;. 
Bull. Am. Pal., vol. i, 1896, pp. 11-13. 

272 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 25 

Pseiidoliva vetusta, and forms of Calyptraphorns velaiiis and 
Tiirritella 7tiortoTii. Among other forms which are peculiar 
to this formation and which are, therefore, marks of identifi- 
cation are Enclimotoceras tdrichi White, Ostrea cremdimargmata 
Gabb, Ostrea pulaskansis Harris, and Volutiliihes limopsis 
Conrad. '5 

In Arkansas the Midway limestone outcrops along the edge of 
the Paleozoic rocks from Bayou Departe, Independence County? 
to below Rockport, on Ouachita River near Malvern, Hot 
Springs County (Pl.xxvii). It is particularly well developed 
around and south of Little Rock, where the total thickness of 
the beds exposed is not known to be greater than 20 feet. 
Between the outcrops near Malvern and southwestern Travis 
County, Tex., no exposures are known, but from the latter 
point southward to Brazos River the limestone and marls form a 
narrow belt having a maximum width of 13 miles near Wills 
Point.'* The total thickness in this section is estimated by 
Kennedy at 260 feet,'" which is but a little greater than that 
found in this formation in western Alabama by Harris (210 
feet).'^ It therefore seems probable that the thickness of the 
Midway beds underlying Louisiana is about 200 feet. 

In Louisiana limited outcrops of the Midway have been found 
in connection with two of the domes, Many and Kings (PI. 
xxvii), and the report of "Nautilus dekayi Morton" (probably 
Enclimotoceras ulrichi White) between Hendersons Mills and 
Albany, in Caddo Parish,'' together with the irregularity of the 



'5 For a detailed discussion of the paleontology of the Midway 
formation see Harris, G. D.. The Midway stage: Bull. Am. Pal., vol. i, 
1896, pp. 117-270. 

'* Kennedy, William, Proc. Philadelphia Acad. Nat. Sci. for 1895, 1896, 
pp. 144-149- 

'7 Third Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Texas, 1892, p. 49. 

'8 Harris, G. D., Bull. Am. Pal., vol. i, 1896, p. 145. 

''Collins, H. C, Ann. Rept. Chief of Engineers for 1873, vol. i, 1873, pp. 
651-654; also House Ex. Doc, 43 Cong., ist sess., vol. 2, pt. 2, 1873, pp. 
651-664. A careful examination of this locality by the writer failed to con- 
firm this report. Collins' statement, however, bears so many earmarks of 
careful observations faithfully recorded, that the results of this examination 
are not felt to be conclusive. 

273 



26 Geol. Surv. lyA. Report of 1905 [bui.i<. 4 

section of a well sunk near the mouth of Cottonwood Bayou, 
which obtained brine, suggests that there may be another 
dome area in this region (PI. xxxviir, sec F). None of the 
fossils have been examined, but it seems probable from the struc- 
ture of the region that the shell marls reported in wells at Uni 
(835, 836) and at Furrh, La. (802), are Midway, as are likewise 
the shells found in the well at Waldo, Ark., (PI. xxxviii, sees. 
F, H, I). 

SABINE FORMATION20 

Overlying the Midway limestones and calcareous clays is a 
series of dark, finely laminated sands and clays containing much 
vegetable matter, either scattered through the mass or accumu- 
lated in lignite beds, and occasional layers containing marine 
shells. It commonly differs from the underlying Midway in the 



Synonymy of the Sabine formation : 

= Lignitic stage, Harris (Am. Jour. Sci., 3d sen, vol.47, 1894, p, 

304; Bull. Am. Pal., vol. 2, No. 9, 1897). 
= Chickasawan stage, Dall (not Hilgard) ( Eighteenth Ann. Rept. 

U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2, 189S, table opp. p. 334). 
<i:vignitic, Smith etal. (Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 43, 1887, pp. 18, 

38; Geol. Survey Alabama, Bull. No. 2, 1892, p. 47; Geology of 

Coastal Plain of Alabama, Alabama Geol. Survej', 1894, pp. 147, 

198, 488), which includes the Midway. 
>Mansfield group, Hilgard (Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser., vol. 48, 1869, p. 

340), which includes all the Sabine formation except the fossili- 

ferous beds. 
< Mansfield group, Hopkins (First Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Ivouisi- 

ana, 1869, 1870, pp. 78, 83), which includes the noufossiliferous 

portion of the Sabine and the Claiborne (Cockfield). 
< Camden series. Hill (Geol. Survey Arkansas, Rept. for 1888, vol. 2, 

1888, pp. 49-53), which includes fossiliferous Jackson, the 

Lagrange, and a portion of the Cretaceous. 
>L,ignitic, Kennedy (Third Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Texas, 1892, p. 

50; Proc. Philadelphia Acad. Sci. for 1895, 1896, p. 92), which 

includes all the Sabine except the fossiliferous beds. 
< Lagrange group, Safford (Am. Jour. Sci. 2d ser., vol. 37, 1S64, pp. 

369-370; Rept. Memphis Waterworks for 1898), which includes 

portions of all the Eocene beds above the Midway. 
< Timber belt or Sabine Riverbeds, Penrose (First Ann. Rept. Geol. 

Survey Texas, 1890, pp. 22-47, n?). which in eastern Texas 

included also the lower Claiborne, Cockfield, and Jackson. 

274 



VKATCH] UNDERCiROUND WaTER OF NORTHERN L,A. 27 

presence of lignitic material and fossil leaves and when containing 
marine fossils is readily distinguished from both the Midway and 
the overlying Claiborne. Toward the coast, where it is overlain 
by the very calcareous, argillaceous, fossiliferous lower Claiborne 
beds, its upper limit can be fixed with exactness, but farther inland, 
where estuarine and swamp conditions persisted until Jackson 
time, no separation is possible except on a purely stratigraphic 
basis. (See PI. xxxviii). 

On the whole, the formation is predominantly sandy, and while 
the sand beds are not so regular or so coarse as some of the beds 
in the Cretaceous, they are the most important water-bearing 
strata in Louisiana and Arkansas north of the outcrop of the 
Catahoula formation (PI. xxvii), and south of the Kocene Creta- 
ceous boundary. 

In Alabama this formation, which has long been called the 
Ivignitic, contains several fossiliferous horizons that are closely 
related from a paleontologic standpoint, but show faunal differ- 
ences which have led to the recognition of four substages, named 
as follows, beginning with the lowest: (i) Nanafalia, (2) Bells 
and Greggs I^anding (Tuscahoma), (3) Woods Bluff, and (4) 
Hatchetigbee. The first two are sometimes collectively called 
the Bells Lauding substage and the second two the Bashi sub- 
stage.'' No distinctive marine fossils have yet been found in 
the lignitiferous time equivalents of this formation in Mississippi, 
Arkansas, and the upper embayment region, but along Sabine 
River in Louisiana and Texas, in the same position relative to 
the embayment as the Alabama deposits, are developed fossili- 
ferous beds showing the same facies. Ostrea thirsa;, an oyster 
common in the Nanafalia horizon in Alabama, occurs in abun- 
dance at Marthaville, La., and the fossils from Pendleton and 
Sabinetown bluffs on Sabine River, in Sabine County, Tex., show 
very close affinities to the Greggs Landing and Woods Bluff 
horizons of Alabama." These beds are limited above bv a well- 



=' Smith, E. A., and Johnson, L- C, Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey, No. 43, 
1SS7, p. 18; Smith, E. A., Johnson, L. C, and Langdon, D. W., Geology of 
the Coastal Plain of Alabama, Geol. Survey Alabama, 1894, p. 27; Harris, 
G. D., Bull. Am. Pal., vol. 2, 1897, p. 196. 

" Harris, G. D., Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. for 1899 [1900], pp. 65-72, 
299-309; Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, pp. 123-125. 

275 



28 Geol. Surv. lyA. Report of 1905 [bui^i,. 4 

preserved and abundant lower Claiborne fauna, and below by 
the Midway (Wills Point) fossiliferous clays and limestones. 

The name Lignitic formation, derived from the lithologic 
character of the beds, is not in accordance with the rules of 
geologic nomenclature, and it is therefore necessary to give to 
this formation the name of some locality at or near which the 
beds are typically exposed. As the name Chickasaw formation"^ 
or stage, which has been used by Dall as an exact synonym for 
lyignitic, is neither stratigraphically nor historically appropriate 
in this sense, and as the name Lagrange (Saftord, 1864), has been 
applied to the lignitiferous complex above the Midway, and as 
the doubtful definition and the lack of marine fossils at the type 
localities of the Mansfield group (Hilgard, 1873) and Camden 
formation (Hill, 1888) make them unavailable, the name Sabine 
has been suggested and adopted, from the typical development 
of the formation along Sabine River in Sabine County, Tex., and 
Sabine Parish, I^a., and from noteworthy exposures at Sabine- 
town Bluff. 

The Sabine formation and its equivalent beds in the undifferen- 
tiated Eocene underlie the whole of Louisiana, except the limited 
areas occupied by the outcrops of the Cretaceous and Midway 



^3 This name was suggested by Hilgard as an appropriate equivalent for 
his Northern Lignitic (which is defined in Geology of Mississippi, 1S60, pp. 
110-123; Am. Jour. Scl., 3d ser., vol. 2, 1871, pp. 394-396), for the very suffi- 
cient reason that the " entire Northern Lignitic is within the Chickasaw 
Purchase, and its most characteristic and conspicuous outcrops are on the 
four Chickasaw bluffs, of which the Memphis bluff is the last " (Eigh- 
teenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2, 1S98, pp. 344-345). Dall, how- 
ever, assumed that Hilgard's Northern Lignitic was the exact equivalent of 
the Lignitic defined by paleozoologic criteria in the Alabama section, and so 
used it. As a matter of fact the Northern Lignitic is a lignitiferous com- 
plex, containing representatives of all the beds between the Midway and 
the Jackson (see p. 33), and therefore represents the swamp and estuarine 
deposits of the Sabine, Claiborne, and Jackson epochs. The strata exposed 
in the Chickasaw bluff, the type locality (see PI. xxxviii A,) are strati- 
graphically either Jackson or the underlying Cockfield, which is uppermost 
Claiborne. In the whole of the Chickasaw Purchase (about 20,000 square 
miles) no locality of the Sabine (Lignitic) containing typical marine fossils 
has been found, and it is necessary to go 100 miles from its border for such 
a locality. It therefore appears necessary either to use the name Chickasaw 
formation in the sense in which Hilgard defined it or to abandon it. 

276 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern L,a. 29 

domes, and all of Arkansas south and east of the Cretaceous and 
Midway outcrops (PI. xxvii). Its thickness, as shown by care- 
fully constructed sections in which local irregularities are reduced 
to their proper minor importance, ranges from 300 feet in north- 
ern Bossier Parish to from 800 to 900 feet near Natchitoches and 
on Sabine River (PI. xxxviii). 



CLAIBORNE FORMATION -4 

This formation, which overlies the Sabine, contains the most 
persistent and widely developed marine beds of the Coastal Plain, 
and is known to extend from Maryland to the Rio Grande. Its 
extremely fossiliferous character early attracted attention, and it 
was from collections from Claiborne Bluff, on Alabama River, in 
Alabama, that the presence of beds of Eocene age in the Gulf 
States was first proved by Conrad."^ He named it the Claiborne 
formation and, with lyea,"^*^ described and figured many of the 
fossils found in a relatively thin sand bed which outcrops in the 
bluff at Claiborne Landing, Ala. Subsequent work has shown 
that this bed, which is generally referred to as the Claiborne sand, 
is but a very local development, paleontologically, of one of the 
larger divisions of the Eocene. It is to this large division that 
the name Claiborne formation or Claiborne group is now applied. 
(See synonymy.) 

In central Louisiana the Claiborne formation is divisible into a 
lower fossiliferous member, which has been called the " Lower 
Claiborne" in this area, and an upper lignitiferous member, 
called the Cockfield, which contains no marine fossils. The 
lower portion is much more calcareous, glauconitic, and clayey 
than the underlying Sabine beds, and where typically developed 
contains no lignitic nor lignitiferous matter, though to the north 
it changes to lignitiferous sands and clays and mergfs into the 
undifferentiated Eocene group. Thus, while across San Augus- 
tine and Sabine counties, Tex. , and on Sabine River it is extremely 
calcareous and fossiliferous and is sharply limited both above and 

-'•Synonymy of the Claiborne formation: 

= Claibornian stage, Dall (Eighteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, 
pt. 2, 1898, pp. 342-343), except the White Bluff beds. 

277 



30 Geol. Surv. La. Report of 1905 [buli.. 4 

below by the ligniliferous beds of the Cockfield and the Sabine, 
and while it maintains this calcareous, fossiliferous character 
northward in Louisiana to about the Vicksburg, Shreveport and 
Pacific Railway (PI. xxvii), yet north of that line the beds are 
pronouncedly lignitiferous in character. A few small, poorly 
preserved Claiborne fossils have been found in northern Bossier 
Parish,"' and stratigraphic relations suggest that the fossils 



= Claiboriie (sand)-|-L>ower Claiborne, Harris (Am. Jour.Sci., sdser., 
vol. 47, 1S94, p. 304), except the White Bluff beds. 

= Claiborne sand-\- Ostrea sellcefomiis beds -|- Lisbon beds -|-Buhr stone 
Harris (Am. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., vol. 47, 1894, p. 304). 

= Claiborne (saud)+Buhrstone, Smith and Johnson (Bull. U. S. Geol. 
Survey No. 43, 1887, p. 18). 

= Claiborne proper (including the Claiborne sand and Ostrea sellcs- 
formis beds)-f Buhrstone, Smith, Johnson, and L,angdon (Geology 
of the Coastal Plain of Alabama, Geol. Survey Alabama, 1S94, pp. 
27, 122, 124, geologic map of Alabama, 1894). 

>or=Claiborue stage or Claiborne group (siliceous Claiborne-fcal- 
careous Claiborne), Hilgard (Geology of Mississippi, i860, pp. 
108, 123-128). 

>Claibornian, Heilprin (Proc. Philadelphia Acad. Nat. Sci., 1882, 
p. 184; Contributions to Tertiary geology and palentology of the 
United States, Philadelphia, 1884^ p. 30), which is exactly equiv- 
alent to Claiborne sand. 

< Lower Claiborne, Kennedy (Proc. Philadelphia, Acad. Nat. Sci. for 
1895, p. 92), which includes portions of Jackson and basal 
Oligocene beds. 

<and>Cooks Mountain beds+Mount Selman beds (Marine deposits 
or Marine beds), Kennedy (Third Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey 
Texas, 1892, p. 45; Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 212, pi. 2, 1903), 
which include also the portion of the Sabine which contains 
marine fossils. 

= Lower Claiborne+Cockfield Ferry beds, Vaughan (Bull. U. S. Geol. 
Survey No. 142, 1896, p. 21). 

= Lower Claiborne, Harris and Veatch (Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. 
for 1899 [1900], pp. 73-89, geologic map). 

= Lower Claiborne+Cockfield, Harris (Geol. Survey Louisiana, 

Rept. of 1902 [1902], pp. 17-21), 

=5 Conrad, T. A., Eocene fossils of the Claiborne, with observations on this 

formation in the United States: Fossil Shells of the Tertiary Formation of 

North America, vol. i. No. 3, 1S35, pp. 29-36. (See Harris's republication 

of Conrad's Fossil Shells, 1893, pp. 75-84), 

"*Lea, Isaac, Tertiary formation of Alabama: Contributions to Geology, 
Philadelphia, 1833, pp. 9-209, pis. 1-6. 

.278 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 31 

found in the wells at Buckner, Ark., and Dubach, L,a. (889), and 
at Walnut Bluff, below Camden, on Ouachita River," are also 
Claiborne, but the general character of the beds in thi.s region 
indicates nearshore or swamp conditions very different from the 
deeper water conditions farther south. 

In Louisiana and Texas the commonest and most readily 
recognized fossils of this formation are Ostrea selUeformis and 
Ayiomia ephippoides. The oysters are particularly abundant, 
often forming "oyster prairies," which are bald spots covered 
with oysters. 

The thickness of this lower fossiliferous portion of the Clai- 
borne formation is 250 to 300 feet in the region about Monroe, 
but increases to over 500 feet at Winnfield. On Sabine River 
the thickness, calculated from dip observations, is 550 feet,'^ and 
the section of a well recently put down near Robinsons Ferry 
which obtained fossils at a depth of 1,250 feet, that Dr. W. H.. 
Dall regards as Claiborne, indicates that it is as much as 700 feet. 

COCKFIEr,D MEMBER OF THE CLAIBORNE'" 

The lignitiferous sands and clays which occur in central 
Louisiana between the marine portions of the Claiborne and Jack- 
son formations are extremely similar in lithologlc character to 
the Sabine beds, and were at first confused with them. They 
contain no marine mollusks and are characterized by thin, impure 
lignite beds and clays, often containing plant remains in an 
excellent state of preservation. They are identical in appear- 
ance with the lignitiferous complex to the north (undifferen- 

=7 Harris, G. D,, Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Arkansas for 1892, vol. 2, 1894, 
pp. 178-180. 

^^Ibid., pp. 141-142. 

^,Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. 1902, p. 120. 

'"Synonymy of the Cockfield member: 

= Upper Ivignitic beds, Lerch (Preliminary report on the hills of 
Louisiana south of the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Rail- 
way to Alexandria, 1893, pp. 82-85). 
= Cockfield Ferry beds, Vauglian (Am. Geol., vol. 15, 1895, p. 220; 

Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 142, 1896, p. 21). 
< Lower Claiborne, Harris and Veatch (Geol, Survey Louisiana, Rept. 
1899 [1900], pp. 80-82), which includes also the fossiliferous por- 
tion of the Claiborne in Louisiana. 
279 



32 Geol. Surv. IvA. Report op 1905 [bui^i,. 4 

tiated Kocene) of which they form a part, and can be definitely 
differentiated only when fixed between fossiliferous Claiborne and 
Jackson beds or by structural data. 

They were first definitely separated from the other Eocene 
nonmarine strata by Lerch, who called them the upper L,ignitic 
in distinction from the lower lyignitic (Sabine) which occurred 
below the lower Claiborne formation. L,ater Vaughan found 
these beds typically exposed at Cockfield Ferry, 3" on Red River, 
halfway between the very fossiliferous Claiborne beds at St. 
Maurice and the Jackson beds at Montgomery, and named them 
the "Cocksfield Ferry beds." 

At Jackson, Miss., the Cockfield beds have a thickness of about 
400 feet.^" In lyouisiana the thickness ranges from 400 to 500 feet. 
(See PI. XXXVIII.) 



= Cockfield beds, Harris (Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1902 

[1902], p. 21. 
= Cockfield Ferry beds or Cocksfield, Veatch (Geol. Survey Louis- 

iana, Rept. of 1902, pp. 120, 130-131, 141, 158, 160-163). 
= ?Yegua, Dumble (Report on Browu Coal, Geol. Survey Texas, 1892, 

pp. 148-154; Science, new ser., vol. 16, 1902, pp. 670-671). 
<Yegua clays, Kennedy (Proc. Philadelphia Acad. Nat. Sci. , vol. 47, 
1895, p. 92), which includes part of the fossiliferous marine 
Jackson. 
<Ivufkin or Angelina County beds, Kenned}' (Third Ann. Rept. Geol. 
Survey Texas, 1892, pp. 45, 58-60), which includes part of the 
fossiliferous marine Jackson. 
< Mansfield group, Hopkins (First Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Louisiana, 
1869, 1870, pp. 78-83), which includes the unfossiliferous Sabine. 
< Northern Lignitic, Hilgard (Geology of Mississippi, i85o, pp. iic- 
123; Am. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., vol. 2, 1871, pp, 394-396), which 
includes also lignitiferous portions of the Sabine and lower 
Claiborne. 
3' This was spelled by Vaughan " Cocksfield Ferry." The maps of the 
Red River Survey (MS. sheet No. 37, Red River Survey, U.S. Kng'rs., 1889- 
1890, scale I : 10,000) gave two plantations at this point belonging to "A. P. 
Cockfield" and " W. J. Cockfield." The ferry name should naturally be 
spelled in the same way as the name of the owners. The section at "Cocks- 
field Ferry," published by Vaughan (Am. Geol., vol. 15, 1895, pi. 9; Bull. 
U. S. Geol. Survey No. 142, 1896, pi. i), is really a section of Petite Ecore, 
or, as it has been improperly anglicized, "Petite Ecore Bluff." 

3= Based on well section given in Geology and Agriculture of Mississippi^ 
i860, p. 191. 

280 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 33 

The sandy, near-shore character of these beds makes them of 
greater importance as water carriers than the Claiborne and 
Jackson. In central Louisiana they commonly contain great 
amounts of soluble salts and the water is generally not so good 
as that from the Sabine. In Arkansas and Mississippi a sand 
bed at about the same stratigraphic position as the basal Cockfield 
water horizon yields good potable water. 

Regarding the relation of the Cockfield to the Jackson and 
Claiborne time divisions the data at hand, as has been pointed 
out by Vaughan,^^ indicate that they are late Claiborne rather 
than early Jackson. In central lyouisiana they are limited below, 
at St. Maurice, by fossils which belong low in the Claiborne, and 
above, at Montgomery, by fossils, which, while not basal Jackson, 
are low in the Jackson ; and while the Cockfield may contain a 
small amount of the Jackson, it is to be regarded as almost 
wholly of Claiborne age. In southern Arkansas, where basal 
Jackson fossils are developed, the Cockfield is clearly of Claiborne 
age. In central Texas, as pointed out by Dumble,^* the Ye'gua 
of Dumble (not Kennedy) presents many points of resemblance 
to the Cockfield, and is here clearly a portion of the Claiborne. 

JACKSON FORMATION 33 

The Jackson group was named by Conrad ^* in 1856, from 



33 Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No, 142, 1S96, p. 22. 
3* Science, new ser., vol. 16, 1902, pp. 670-671. 
35 Synonymy of the Jackson formation: 

= Jacksonian stage, Dall (Eighteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, 

pt. 2, 1898, p. 342. 
= Jackson stage, Harris and Veatch (Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. 
for 1899 [1900], pp. 89-93; Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, 
pp. 22-23, 131-132, 141. 158. 164-167). 
< Jackson group, Hopkins (Second Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey 
Louisiana, 1871, pp. 7-15, map), which includes the Sabine, 
Cockiield, lower Claiborne, and a part of the Jackson ; the 
remainder of the Jackson is included in his Vicksburg group. 
< White limestone, Johnson (Report on the iron region of northern 
Louisiana and eastern Texas; House Ex. Doc, 50th Cong, ist 
sess. No. 195, 1888, map, pp. 14-15), which includes lower 
Claiborne (in part), Cockfield, Jackson, and Vicksburg (?). 
<Yegua clays, Kennedy (Proc. Philadelphia Acad. Nat. Sci. vol. 47, 
1895, p. 92), which includes the Cockfield, 
28 [ 



34 Geol. Surv. La. Report of 1905 [buli,. 4 

Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, where the beds are typically 
exposed. It consists of a series of fossiliferous, somewhat gyp- 
seous, calcareous clays which have been traced from eastern Ala- 
bama to eastern Texas. It extends farther up the Mississippi 
embayment than any other of the Tertiary beds containing marine 
fossils except the Midway, having been found in wells at Hays 
Landing, La. (872), near Arkansas City, Ark. (144), and at 
Helena, Ark. (644). It is exposed at Crowleys Ridge, west of 
Memphis, and, south of Arkansas River in Arkansas, extends 
from near Little Rock to Hamburg. (See Pis. xxvii and 
XXXVIII, sec. A). At Crowleys Ridge it shows a marked tendency 
to change into lignitiferous clays — a tendency which is quite like 
that of the Claiborne and the Sabine farther south. 

In this region it is the most fossiliferous marine bed of the 
Eocene, with the possible exception of the Claiborne in Louisiana 
and the Midway in Arkansas, from both of which it may be 
distinguished by its characteristic fossils and stratigraphic 
position. One of the noted outcrops in Louisiana is shown in 

PI. XXVIII. 

?^Yegua, Dumble (Report on Brown Coal, Geol. Survey Texas, 1892, 
pp. 148-154 ; Science, new ser., vol. 16, 1902, pp. 670-671), which 
is regarded as a portion of the Claiborne. 

< White limestone, Smith (Geology of the Coastal Plain of Alabama, 

Geol. Survey Alabama, 1894, pp. 107, 232, 376, 492, 495 ; see also 
Casey, Proc. Philadelphia Acad. Nat. Sci. for 190 r, 1901, pp. 513-518). 

< Fayette sands, Kennedy (Proc. Philadelphia Acad. Nat. Sci. for 

1895, 1896, pp. 92, 95-99 ; Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 212, 1903, 
p. 20, pi. 2). These, as defined by Kennedy, are largely Cata- 
houla (Grand Gulf), but include, near the base, Jackson fossils. 
(See Harris, Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, p. 25 ; Veatch, 
ibid., p. 133). 

<Vicksburg, Hilgard (Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser., vol. 48, 1869, pp. 340- 
341 ; Supplement and Final Report of a Geological Recon- 
naissance of Louisiana, New Orleans, 1873, PP- 18-19), which 
includes all the Jackson and Claiborne beds in Louisiana along 
Sabine River and a number of Jackson localities in eastern 
Louisiana. 

?^ Jackson group, Lerch (The hills of Louisiana south of the Vicks- 
burg, Shreveport and Pacific Railway [1893], pp. 88-91), which 
includes only a portion of the lower Claiborne. 
36 Conrad, T. A., Proc. Philadelphia Acad. Nat. Sci., vol. 7, 1856, p. 257. 

282 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 35 

undifferentiated eocene r 

The Eocene beds, which in central Louisiana, Mississippi and 
Alabama are fossiliferous, all become lignitiferous in the upper 
portion of the embayment. The marine fossils of the Sabine, 
lower Claiborne, and Jackson epochs each extend farther north- 
ward than those of the preceding epochs, but in each case the 
beds bearing marine fossils grade into lignitiferous clays and 
sands containing no distinctive marine fossils. 

The first name given to this lignitiferous group, which can not 
be separated except on structural grounds, was the Lagrange. 
This included all the Eocene beds in Tennessee above the Mid- 
way, and was afterwards quite logically extended by its author. 
Prof. J. M. Safford, State geologist of Tennessee, to include the 
lignitiferous sands and clays of Crowleys Ridge, '^ which are of 

37 Synoii)'niy of the undifferentiated Eocene : 

= Nortbern lignitic, Hilgard (Geology of Mississippi, 1860 pp. 110- 

123; Am. Jour. Sci , 3d ser,, vol. 2, 1871, pp. 394,-396), except 

the Flatwoods clays, which are Midway, 
= I/agrange, including Bluff lignite, Safford (Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser., 

vol. 37, 1864, pp. 369-370). 
= Lagrange-|-Bluff lignite, Safford (Geology of Tennessee, 1869, pp. 

424-428) . 
= Lagrange, Safford (Agricultural and Geological Map of Tennessee, 

1874, Taintor Brothers, New York, publishers). 
= Lagrange, Safford (Agricultural and Geological Map of Tennessee, 

Tavel, Eastman & Howell, Nashville, Tenn., 1875). 
= Lagrange, Safford and Killbrew (Elementary Geology of Tennessee, 

Nashville, 1876, pp. 165-166). 
= Lagrange, Safford (Agricultural and Geological Map of Tennessee, 

1888, 1896, 1899). 
= Lagrange, Safford (Rept. Memphis Water Works, 1898, p. 16). 
= Lagrange, Safford (Elements of the Geology of Tennessee, Nash- 
ville, 1900, pp. 104, 160-161). 
< Camden series. Hill (Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Arkansas for 1888, 
vol. 2, 1888, pp. 188-189), which includes the Jackson and a portion 

of the Cretaceous. 
= (?)or> Camden beds, Hill (Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Arkansas for 

18S8, vol. 2, 1888, pp. 188-189). 
>Chickasaw stage, Dall (Eighteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, 

pt. 2, 1898, pp. 344-345), which is restricted to the Lignitic 

(Harris, 1894) or Sabine formation. 
3^Lundie, John, Rept. on Waterworks System of Memphis, Tenn., 1898, 
p. 16. 

283 



36 Geol. Surv. IvA. Report of 1905 [buli,. 4 

lower Jackson age and are the stratigraphic equivalents of the 
beds in the upper Chickasaw Bluffs. This formation grows more 
sandy to the north, where at Memphis essentially continuous sand 
beds 800 feet thick have been penetrated.^' 

OLIGOCENE 
CONDITIONS OF DEPOSITION 

The change from the Eocene to the Oligocene in this area is, 
like the change from the Cretaceous to the Eocene, much more 
a paleontologic than a stratigraphic break, and while beds of 
lignitiferous strata separate the Jackson from the basal Oligocene 
or Vicksburg beds, they are of no greater importance as an 
indication of a time break than half a dozen beds within the 
Eocene. No pronounced unconformity or discordance of the 
strata has been observed. However, such characteristic and 
abundant Eocene forms as Ve7iericardia, Pseudoliva, Volutilithes, 
and Calyptraphorus abruptly terminate in the Jackson, and are 
replaced in the basal Oligocene by a distinctly different fauna. 
Of the 122 species known in the basal Oligocene, but 10 are 
found in the Claiborne and Jackson.''" 

The lowest Oligocene beds in the Mississippi Valley, like the 
basal Eocene, are lithologically more like the topmost beds of the 
preceding series than the succeeding beds of the larger time 
division which they initiate. They represent conditions of 
deposition and distribution of ocean water which are but the con- 
tinuation of those of the previous period, while the succeeding 
beds are indicative of more or less radical changes. The basal 
Oligocene beds, the Vicksburg formation, are overlain by near- 
shore deposits consisting of coarse sandstones interstratified with 
greenish-gray clays very different from the underlying calcareous 
and lignitiferous strata and entirely devoid of marine remains, 
though containing land plants and fresh-water shells. This 
group of beds, which is called the Catahoula formation, is in turn 
overlain by greenish calcareous clays, containing a very few 



39Safford, J. M., Bulletin State Board of Health, vol. 5, pt. 7, Feb. 20, 
1890, pp. 98-106 ; Ann, Rept. Geol. Survey Arkansas for 1889, vol. 2, 1891, 
pp. 28-29. 

"toDall, W. H., Trans. Wagner Free lust. Sci., vol, 3, pt. 6, 1903, p. 1553. 



PL, 



> 
Pi 
p 

CO 

i4 
o 
w 
O 

< 

k4 




veatchI Undkkoround Watkr of Northern La. 37 

brackish-water shells and called the Fleming formation. Indeed, 
if physical rather than biological changes were made the basis of 
the broader geologic divisions, the dividing lines between the 
Cretaceous and Eocene and the Kocene and Oligocene in this 
region would be drawn above the base of the deposits of these 
larger time units. 

During the Eocene the Mississippi embayment was almost, if 
not completely, Glled, and in the Oligocene, except possibly in 
early Vicksburg time, the coast line was a simple broad curve 
reaching from eastern Georgia to Mexico with no pronounced 
indentations (PI. xxvi D). 

VICKSBURG FORMATION 4i 

The Vicksburg formation, which was named by Conrad in 
1846"- from its very fossiliferous exposure in the bluffs at Vicks- 
burg, Miss. (PI xxix), where it has a total thickness of 120 feet,"' 
is the lithological counterpart of the underlying Jackson, from 
which it can be distinguished by its characteristic fossils. The 

•♦' Synonymy of the Vicksburg formation : 

= Vicksburg, Dall (Trans. Wagner Free Inst. Sci. , vol. 3, pt. 6, 1903, 

P- 1553)- 

piVicksburg, Hilgard (Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser., vol. 48, 1869, pp. 340- 
341 ; Supplemental and Final Report of a Geological Recon- 
naissance of Louisiana, New Orleans, 1873, pp. 18-19). A.11 the 
localities at vi^hich Hilgard reported Vicksburg in Louisiana have 
proved to be Claiborne or Jackson. 

< Vicksburg group, Hopkins (First Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Louisiana, 

1869, 1870, pp. 94-98 ; Second Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Louisiana, 

1870, 1871, pp. 15-18). Includes portions of the Claiborne and 
Jackson. 

5»i White limestone, Johnson (Iron Region of Northern Louisiana and 
Fastern Texas, 1888, pp. 14-16). As described, this includes only 
Jackson and Claiborne fossils. 

<St. Stephens White limestone, Smith (Geology of the Coastal Plain 
of Alabama, Geol. Survey Alabama, 1894, pp. 107, 232, 376, 492, 
495). which includes" the Jackson. According to Casey, it has 
not yet been definitely proved that the White limestones contain 
any true Vicksburg (Proc. Philadelphia Acad. Nat. Sci. for 1901, 

PP- 513-518)- 
••^Conrad, T. A., Proc, Philadelphia Acad. Nat. Sci., vol. 3, 1846, pp. 
280-281. 
« Hilgard, E. W., Am. Jour. Sci. 3d ser., vol. 2, 1S71, map facing p. 391- 

285 



38 Geol. Surv, lyA. Report of 1905 [bui.1.. 4 

known extent of the typical Vicksburg is very limited. West of 
Mississippi River it has been definitely proved to occur only in 
a limited region in northern Catahoula Parish, La.""* (Pi. xxvii), 
though it may extend westward to the vicinity of Little River. 
To the east certain beds in eastern Mississippi and Alabama, 
particularly the great Orbitoidal limestone of the Florida peninsula, 
have been correlated with this formation, but the recent work of 
DalP^ renders this correlation somewhat doubtful, and Casey 
has suggested that the true Vicksburg beds represent but a local 
development in a remnant of the old Mississippi embayment."* 



CATAHOULA FORMATION47 

Overlying the fossiliferous Vicksburg clays and limestones is a 
series of sandstones and greenish clays which are generally quite 



t'*The outcrops of the Vicksburg beds 3 miles south of Rosefield were first 
described by Hopkins, who correctly referred them to the Vicksburg 
(First Ann. Rept. Geol, Survey Louisiana for 1869, 1870, p. 97 ; Second 
Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Louisiana for 1870, 1871, p. j6). They were, 
however, first definitely proved to belong to this stage by Vaughan (Bull. 
U. S. Geol. Survey No. 142, 1896, p. 52). 

■tsDall, W. H., Trans. Wagner Free Inst. Sci.,vol. 3, pt. 6, 1903, p. 1553. 

''* Casey, T. L., On the probable age of the Alabama White limestone; 
Proc. Philadelphia Acad. Nat. Sci. for 1901, pp. 513-518. 

<7 Synonymy of the Catahoula formation: 

< Grand Gulf sandstone, Wailes (Agriculture and Geology of Missis- 

sippi, 1857, pp. 216-219). Includes typical Grand Gulf sandstone 
and (erroneously) some consolidated Claiborne and Lafayette. 

< Grand Gulf group, Hilgard (Report on Geolog}^ and Agriculture of 
Mississippi, i860, pp. 147-154), which includes the Catahoula, 
Fleming, and Pascagoula formations. 

= Typical Grand Gulf, Dall (Eighteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Sur- 
vey, pt. 2, 1898, table facing p. 334). 

= Grand Gulf proper, Harris (Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, 
p. 28). 

< Grand Gulf beds, Harris (ibid.). 

= Grand Gulf, Veatch (Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, pp. 

120, 132-135). 
< Fayette beds, Penrose (First Ann, Rept. Geol. Survey Texas, 1890, 

pp. 47-58), which are a composite including Claiborne beds in 

their type locality and Catahoula and Fleming beds in east Texas. 
5^ Fayette beds, Dumble (Jour. Geol., vol 2, 1894, pp. 552-554; Science, 

new ser., vol. 16, 1902, p. 671), which are Claiborne. 
286 



> 
IT'S- 

> a 




veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 39 

diflferent, lithologically, from any of the older beds of the Ter- 
tiary series in Louisiana and Arkansas. The sandstones which 
are the characteristic feature of this formation range in thickness 
from a few inches to 50 or 60 feet (PI. xxx, wells 859, 938, 939), 
and thickness of as much as 140 feet (well 855) have been 
reported/** These sand beds are often cemented by silica into 
very hard quartzites, but such occurrences are essentially local, 
and the quartzitic beds pass laterally in very short distances into 
soft sandstones or even unconsolidated sands. These sandstones 
and quartzitic layers have resisted erosion more than the under- 
lying clays and unconsolidated sands of the Eocene and so have 
formed a line of rocky hills, the Kisatchie Wold (PI. xxv), 
extending across Louisiana, into Texas on the one hand and into 
Mississippi on the other. 

These beds contain no indications of marine life, but land 
plants are abundant and fresh-water shells have been found in 
several places. The change from the conditions existing in the 
Vicksburg is very marked and indicates an elevation during which 
the region where the oceanic conditions were favorable for the 
growth of marine life was considerably south of the present out- 
crop of the formation (see PI, xxvii). 

These beds were observed at Grand Gulf, on Mississippi River, 
in Claiborne County, Miss., by Wailes, the first State geologist 
of Mississippi, who referred to them as the "Grand Gulf sand- 
stones.""" Later Hilgard^" used the name " Grand Gulf group " 
to include the beds exposed in southern Mississippi between the 
Vicksburg and the relatively recent coastal clays (Port Hudson), 

< Fayette sands, Kennedy (Third Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Texas, 
1892, pp. 60-62; Bull. U.S. Geol. Survey No. 212, 1903, pp. 20,21- 
22), which includes a portion of the Jackson. (See Geol. Survey- 
Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, pp. 25, 132-133.) 
= Oakville, Dumble (Science, new ser , vol. 16, 1902, pp. 670-671). 
This correlation, while suggestive, needs further evidence to 
verify it. 
■•* Kennedy, William, Third Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey, Texas, 1892, p. 63. 
•"Wailes, B. C. L., Agriculture and Geology of Mississippi, 1857, pp. 216- 
219. 

5°Hilgard, E. W., Rept. on Agriculture and Geology of Mississippi, 1S60 
pp. 147-154- 

287 



40 Geol. Surv. lyA. Report of 1905 [bui,i.. 4 

and the name has been used with varying shades of meaning by 
different authors since that time.^' 

In view of this confusion and in order to furnish a name not 
likely to be misunderstood, the name Catahoula formation is used 
in this paper as a synonym for the " typical Grand Gulf " or the 
" Grand Gulf proper." This new name is from Catahoula Par- 
ish, lya.,^^ which is directly across the Mississippi Valley from 
Grand Gulf and where there are many outcrops which are 
lithologically and stratigraphically counterparts of the beds 
of the old type locality. From this place the beds ha\"e been 
traced eastward through Mississippi into Alabama, where they 
apparently grade into a series of fossiliferous sands and calcar- 
eous clays known as the "Chattahoochee group." To the 
west they extend in a very pronounced line across Louisiana 
into eastern Texas, and, according to Dumble, are continued 
across that State in his Oakville beds.^^ The thickness of this 
formation, as shown by comparative cross sections based on wells 
at Alexandria (933, 939) and Boyce (944) and on dip observa- 
tions on Sabine River, ='' is about 1,100 feet (PI. xxxviii). 

The country in which this formation outcrops is, as a rule, 
poor in everything but long-leaf pine. The sand beds are, how- 
ever, important water carriers, and in places (as near Harrison- 
burg, Lena, and Christie, La., and about Rockland, Tex.) the 
quartzitic layers have been quarried for riprap work and ballast 
(PI. xxiv). 

FLEMING CLAY 55 

The Fleming clay, which was so named by Kennedy in 1892 ^'^ 
from Fleming siding on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway 



I 



SI In this connection see the following; Smith, E. A., and Aldrich, T. H., 
Science, new ser., vol. 16, 1902, pp. 835-837; Idem, vol. 18, 1903, pp. 20-26; 
Dall, W. H., -Science, new ser., vol. 16, 1902, pp. 946-947; Idem, vol. 18, 
1903, pp. 83-85; Hilgard, E. W., Science, newser., vol. 18, 1903, pp. 180-182- 

5^ It may be of historic interest to note that one of the first mentions of 
the outcrops of this formation refers to the exposures at Catahoula shoals, 
in Catahoula Parish, which were even at that early day correctly correlated 
with the exposures east of the Mississippi (see Darby, William, A Geo- 
logical Description of the State of Louisiana, Philadelphia, 1816, pp. 45-46). 

53 Science, new ser., vol. 16, 1902, pp. 670-671. 

S't Geol. Survey Ivouisiana, Rept. of 1902, pp. 120, 132-135. pi. 37. 

55 Synonymy of Fleming cla)^: 

288 






vkatch] Undek ground Water of Northern La. 41 

near the line between Tyler and Polk counties, Tex., con.sists of 
green or bluish green calcareous clays, differing from the under- 
lying Catahoula beds in the presence of numerous small white 
calcareous nodules and the absence of the characteristic Catahoula 
sandstone layers. Near its base it often contains a bed of bright- 
red clay, which forms a convenient line of parting." These beds 
produce a stiff, heavy soil that is often black and resembles the 
soils of the Cretaceous prairies. Except where deeply covered 
with the surficial sands and gravels, these are commonly quite 
distinct from the coarse, sandy soils of the Catahoula formation. 

Although these deposits represent less truly littoral sediments 
than the Catahoula beds, extended search has failed to reveal any 
marine remains except near Burkville, Newton County, Tex., 
where a brackish-water Oligocene fauna ^* has been found in a 
local development of limestone 3 to 4 inches thick. These beds 
are particularly well developed on Neches River in the vicinity 
of Townbluff and extend east and west from that point in a belt 
5 to 15 miles wide. 

The thickness of the Fleming beds is not well known, though 

= Fleming beds, Kennedy (Third Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Texas, 

1 89 1, pp. 62-63). 
^Frio clajs. Durable (Jour. Geol., vol. 2, 1894, pp. 554-555; Science, 

new ser., vol. 16, 1902, pp. 670-671), which are regarded as 

Claiborne. 
= Frio clays, Kennedy (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia for 1895, 

1896, pp. 93-95; Bull, U. S. Geol. Survey No. 212, 1903, pp. 20, 

22-23, pl- 2). 
= Frio Clays, Veatch (Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, pp. 120, 

135-137. 141-144. pl- 37)- 
= Frio claj-s, Harris (Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, pp. 28-32). 
= Frio clays, Maury (Bull. Am. Pal., vol. 3, 1902, pp. 353, 390, pl. 25). 
5* Kennedy, W., Third Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Texas, 1892, pp. 62-63. 
57 Ibid., p. 63; Harris, G. D., Geol, Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, p. 31. 
5^ Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, p. 136; Bull. Am. Pal., No. 15, 
vol. 3, 1902, p. 80. Kennedy (JBull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 212, 1903, p. 53) 
reports a number of lower Claiborne (Eocene) species from this locality, but 
tlie collection made by the writer in 1902, which was by far the largest made 
at this point, showed none of the species listed by Kennedy. Dr. T. W. 
Vaughan 1 ter visited the outcrop and states that the fragmentary material 
which he was able to obtain was regarded by both himself and Dr. W. H. 
Dall as having a decidedly Oligocene aspect. 

289 



42 Geol. Surv. I,a. Report of 1905 [Bui,r,. 4 

it has been estimated by Kennedy at 260 feet and by Veatch at 
2roo + feet.^' 

Along Sabine River the dip of the Fleming formation is much 
less than that of the basal Catahoula beds, though it is apparently 
the same as that of the uppermost Catahoula, which is from 25 
to 35 feet per mile. 



MIOCENB AND EARLY PLIOCENE 

Afier the deposition of the Fleming beds a general elevation of 
this region, accentuated locally by the further development of 
the low Angelina-Caldwell monoclinal flexure (PI. xxxvii), 
caused the sea to retreat southward to a point between the 
present outcrop of the Catahoula and Fleming formations and 
the Gulf shore. This retreat was but one of the steps in 
the gradual growth of this portion of the American continent, 
which, with minor retrogressions, such as occurred in the late 
Pliocene, has resulted in moving the shore line of the southern 
sea, now the Gulf of Mexico, from a line, as yet unfixed, north 
of the southern edge of the Ouachita Mountains to the present 
coast. 

The effect of this late Oligocene, Miocene, and early Pliocene 
uplift and the very slow and gradual tilting which accompanied 
it was to permit the formation in the coast region of Louisiana of 
very thick post-Oligocene deposits, which, with the beds that 
were formed in the late Pliocene and Quaternary, have a 
thickness in that region of much more than 3,000 feet. ^° The 
region north of this shore line was by this elevation subjected to 
more or less profound erosion, by which this new Coastal Plain, 
underlain by Oligocene, Bocene, and Cretaceous sediments, was 
reduced to a level, inXouisiana and Arkansas, of from 500 to 700 
feet above the present sea level. North of this Coastal Plain, in 
the region of the older rocks, where erosion had been active since 
the first arching and tilting of the great Jurassic peneplain in the 



59 Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, p. 120. 

*° The Galveston, Tex., well at a depth of 2,920 feet reached only the upper 
part of the Miocene (Harris, Fourth Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Texas, for 
1892, 1893, p. 118; Twenty-first Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, 1901, 
pp. 402-406) . 

290 



veatch] Underground Watkr of Northern La. 43 

early Cretaceous, the erosion of the Miocene and early Pliocene 
completed the formation of a plain lying below the level of the old 
Jurassic peneplain and containing many protruding remnants of 
the older surface. This lower, partially developed Tertiary 
peneplain was es.sentially continuous with the eroded Coastal 
Plain. 

LATE PLIOCENE 

LAFAYETTE FORMATION 

CONDITIONS OF DEPOSITION 

In the late Pliocene a considerable change in elevation oc- 
curred, which caused the sea to advance from its position a little 
north of the present Gulf coast and to cover much of the eroded 
Coastal Plain and in places to extend over the bordering rocks. 
The sea, in its advance and retreat, spread over this plain a sheet 
of littoral deposits, and the rivers flowing into it filled up the 
valleys with similar materials. 

This great blanket of silts, sands, and gravels of near- shore 
and fiuviatile origin, which, from its exposures in Lafayette 
County, Miss., has been named the Lafayette formation by Hil- 
gard,*' and which has been described at length by McGee,^ was, 
in northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas, largely worn away 
and redeposited in the succeeding periods of erosion. Its 
remnants or redeposited remnants are, however, very common 
throughout the Coastal Plain in Arkansas and Louisiana, though 
the exact relation of the different deposits and the succession of 
events involved in their redeposition can be exactly determined 
only by a very detailed study after large-scale topographic maps 
have been prepared. 

PRESENT DISTRIBUTION 

South of the Catahoula and Fleming formations these sands 
and gravels form the surface for miles and then pass southward 
beneath the more recent clays of the Quaternary (fig. 20), form- 
ing there the water bearing beds which furnish a portion of the 

*' Hilgard, E. W., Am. GeoL, vol. 8, tSgi, p. 130. 

*^ McGee, W. J., The Lafayette formation; Twelfth Ann. Rept. U. S. 
Geol. Survey, pt. i, iSgr, pp. 347-521. 

291 



44 



Geol. Surv. La. Report op 1905 



[BU1.1,. 4 



waters used in the irrigation of that region. North of the Cat- 
ahoula sandstone their occurrence is essentially fragmentary, and 
they appear and disappear in an extremely irregular manner. 
As shown by wells, they are commonly thickest in the large 
valleys, where they have been concentrated by erosion subsequent 
to their original deposition, but they do not normally outcrop on 
the surface of the present river flood plains and on the adjoining 
terraces, though they are frequently exposed in the base of the 
river banks at low water and are generally abundant where the 
terraces grade into the adjacent hills. 

They are notably absent in regions of very calcareous 
clays, as in the Jackson area in Louisiana and the regions 
underlain by the more calcareous beds of the Cretaceous, '^^a 
peculiarity of distribution due to two factors: (i) The cla3'^ey 







^oj-v-ji u(. SyijT-cJaj)^^^: — ^^TT" . — -_- L 



Sdn'cJyC'^y^ 



Fig. 20. — North-south section showing Lafayette and younger gravels passing beneath 
the clays of the Port Hudson and supplying artesian wells in southern Louisiana. 



layers of a gently sloping unconsolidated Coastal Plain series are 
generally more easily eroded than the sandy beds, and the sur- 
ficial beds are therefore really more completely removed along the 
outcrops of the clay layers; (2) it is not always possible to state 
positively that these Lafayette and younger beds are absent from 
the weathered outcrops of the sandy layers of the older Coastal 
Plain series, and it often happens, because of the absence of 
pronounced lithologic differences, that the Lafayette beds are 



" Also observed in Mississippi and Alabama (Geology of the Coastal Plain 
of Alabama, Geol. Survey Alabama, 1894, p. 63; Agriculture and Geology of 
Mississippi, i860, p. 5; Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept, for 1899 ['90o], pp. 
105-106). 

292 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 45 

assumed to be present in great thickness, when in fact they are 
almost or entirel}' absent. Thus, in Arkansas, portions of the 
weathered outcrops of the Bingen and Nacatoch sands "have 
been mistaken for these surficial beds. Outcrops of a bed of lit- 
toral sediments, probably Cretaceous, lying below the Midway at 
Little Rock, "' and ferruginous deposits in Louisiana belonging to 
the lower Claiborne*'' have also been improperly classed as 
Lafayette. 

The gravel deposits are particularly abundant along Ouachita 
and Little Missouri rivers, and on the eastern side of the old 
course of Red River, along Bayou Dorcheat and Black Bayou. 
The bowlders along this line are often of extreme size; thus at 
Bisteneau Salt Works large masses of quartzite, containing 8 to 
10 cubic feet, were observed in 1899 and were then thought to be 
local, ''^ but similar bowlders have subsequently been found at 
many points to the north between this locality and the novacu- 
lite outcrops in the Ouachita Mountains. Similar bowlders have 
been found on Ouachita River near Monroe*^ and it is difl&cult, 
in the absence of any known glacial action, to imagine how they 
could have been transported 100 to 150 miles from their source, 
unless it were by floating ice. Call, however, has made the 
suggestion that somewhat similar bowlders on Crowleys Ridge 
were carried by roots of floating trees.*' This, while possible in 
some cases, is not believed to be the true explanation of all the 
occurrences observed in southern Arkansas and northern Louis- 
iana. These large gravel deposits belong more properly to the 
period of erosion and readjustment which followed the Lafayette 
than to the Lafayette submergence itself. 

^'t Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Arkansas for 1888, vol. 2, 1888, pp. 28-42, map; 
Twenty-second Ann, Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 3, 1902, pi. 47. 

*5 Twelfth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. i, 1891, p. 470; Ann. Rept. 
Geol. Survey Arkansas for 1892, vol. 2, 1894, p. 7. 

'* Second Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Louisiana for 1870, 1871, pp. 22-23; 
Bull. Louisiana State Exper. Sta.; Preliminary report on the hills of Louisi- 
ana north of the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railwaj-, 1893, pp. 24- 
26; Bull. 0. S. Geol. Survey No. 142, 1896, pp. 20-22; Geol. Survey Louisiana, 
Rept. for 1899 [1900]' PP- loo-ioi. 

^7 Geol. Surve}- Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, p. 88. 

*^Ibid., p. 169. 

^Call, R, E., Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Arkansas for 1889, vol. 2. 

293 



46 Geol. Surv. La. Report of La. [buivI.. 4 

quaternary 
pleistocene 

LATE TERTIARY AND EARLY QUATERNARY EROSION 

A gradual elevation marked the close of the Lafayette epoch 
and the sea retreated southward over the deposits laid down in 
its former advance, reasserted them, and carried back into the 
ocean some of the finer materials of the upper layers. The 
streams following the sea across this newly emerged coastal plain, 
in courses determined by its slight irregularities, began at once 
to trench its surface and incidentally to form the major topo- 
graphic features of to-day. As this slow elevation continued 
the streams cut deeper and deeper into the underlying beds and, 
while at first the valleys were deep and narrow and the major 
streams were separated by large flat-topped areas representing 
the old plain level, the tributary streams gradually wore back 
into these level regions, divided them, and carved them into hills. 
When at last the land came to rest, at a height of about 100 feet 
above the present level, the streams, unable to cut below the 
very low slopes necessary to carry their waters seaward, began 
to cut from side to side and in time made broad valleys some- 
what larger than the present flood plains, which occupy the 
depressions produced by these older rivers, but which are now 
restricted by the unremoved portions of the Port Hudson 
deposits forming terraces. The bottom lands along the larger 
streams, the ancient Mississippi, Arkansas, Ouachita, and Red 
rivers, were, about 100 feet below the present flood plains (see 
bottom of gravel layer, (PI. xxxviii,) and like the latter were 
trenched still deeper by the streams trav^ersing them (see 
stream cuts in present destructional flood plains, shown in fig. 23), 
p. 51). Thus the bed of the Mississippi of today has an extreme 
depth of 150 feet below its banks at Vicksburg, 165 feet at Fort 
Adams, and 175 feet 4 miles below the mouth of Red River, 7° 
and the abnormal depths of the redeposited Lafayette and Qua- 
ternary materials encountered in some of the wells given in the 
following tables are, in part, thought to be due to such occur- 
rences, though they may be the effect of a slight uplift toward 
the close of this erosion period. 

7° Mississippi River Comm., Survey of Mississippi River, charts Nos. 48, 
60 and 61. 

294 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 47 

Table shoiuing thickness of Port Hudson and redeposited Lafayette and 
Quaternary beds in the Red River Valley, and indicating the position of 
the old land surface. 



Well 

No.71 



Location 



788 
783 
784 

785 
786 

794 

803 
796 
797 
799 
800 
801 

835 
804 
805 
832 

906 

908 

877 

953 
937 
938 
940 
950 
950 
947 



LOUISIANA 

Bossier Parish: 

Lake Point 

Bossier City (3 miles north of ) . . 

Bossier Cit}- (2^ miles north of) 

Bossier City 

Bossier City 

Pool 

Caddo Parish: 

Missionary 

Belcher 

Belcher (3 miles northeast of) ... 

Dixie 

Dixie (2j^ miles east of) 

Dixie (3 miles southwest of) 

Uni 

Below Shreveport 

Robson 

Ba5'ou Pierre 

Natchitoches Parish; 

Luella 

Montrose 

Grant Parish: 

Colfax 

Rapides Parish: 

Rapides (average of 5 wells) 

Alexandria 

Alexandria 

Alexandria . . 

Pineville 

Pineville 

Lamothe 



Thick- 
ness of 
deposits 



69 



Feet. 
120 
130 

76 

80 

195? 
III? 

130 
96 

125 
60 

85 

121 

70 

-no 
106 
70 

300? 
180 

130 

108 
90 

155 
110+ 
200? 
230? 

105+ 



Table showing thickness of Port Hudson and redeposited Lafayette beds in 
the Mississippi Willey, arid indicating the position of the old land 
sufface 



Well 

No 72 



873 
872 
894 
922 

923 
867 



Location 



Lake Providence. 
Hays Landing. . . 

Mound 

Monroe 

Monroe .... 

Fish Pond 



LOUISIANA 



Thick- 
ness of 
deposits 



Feet. 
248? 
109 
135+ 

95 

80 

145+ 



7' Numbers correspond to those used in Chapter V. 
'^Numbers correspond to those used in Chapter V. 



295 




Scale of miles 



Fig. 21. — Sketch topographic map near Many, Sabine Parish, La., showing the characteristic flat-bottomed, steep-sidec 
small stream valleys of northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas, by A. C. Veatch, 1899. 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 



49 



lu the area between the main streams the tributaries formed in 
time an interlocking drainage very little different from that of 
to-day, and at the close of this long period of erosion almost all 
of the old plain level had been destroyed (PI. xxv) and the 
major topographic features of northern Louisiana and southern 
Arkansas produced. Indeed, the only great difference between 
the topography of that day and this was that the principal 
valleys were loo to 150 feet deeper, and the Port Hudson terraces 
(PI. xxvii) were entirely absent. The valleys of the small 
streams did not then show their present anomalous, steep sided, 
flat-bottomed, filled character (fig. 21), but the hill slopes passed 
in curves of gradually lessening gradient to the streams between' 
them (fig. 22). The topographic features of to-day are but the 
features developed in that period, slightly modified by the partial 
filling of the valleys in the succeeding period of low level and the 
incomplete re-excavation of this filling which has taken place since 
that time. 




3mile5 



From U. S. Geol. Surv. 
Fig. 22. — Section near Many, La., showing typical flat-bottomed, filled character of small 
stream valleys in northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas ; also showing typical 
steeper gradient of north-facing than of south-facing hill slopes. 

PORT HUDSON DEPOSITION 
CONDITIONS OF DEPOSITION 

During the long preceding period, which in its results was 
essentially one of erosion, though there were doubtless many 
stages that have not yet been interpreted, the mantle of Lafayette 
sands and gravels was largely worn away and redeposited. The 
gravel was concentrated at many points by stream action and 
toward the close of the period, when perhaps the land stood 
slightly higher than before, and when the Mississippi may have 
been augmented by glacial flood waters, many of the valley 
bottoms were covered with sand and gravel. 

297 






50 Geoi.. Surv. La. Report of 1905 [bui,i.. 4 

With the slow subsidence which then began the carrying 
power of the streams was diminished and the gravels were cov- 
ered with fine sands and, in time, with silts and clays. The 
bottom lands were converted into great low-lying swamps and 
mingled with the deposits formed at this time. In the valleys 
north of Baton Rouge are fresh- water shells" and many swamp- 
loving trees, as well as driftwood washed in from the higher lands. 

These swamp deposits and their accompanying blue clays are 
succeeded by silty or sandy, somewhat calcareous clays, which 
reflect the general character of the sediments of the rivers along 
which they are found. Thus, on the Mississippi they are yellow or 
grayish yellow and contain numerous ferruginous and a few calca- 
reous concretions, while on Red River they are bright red and 
contain many lime nodules not vastly different from those found 
in the loess and known as "loesskindchen." 

These deposits are to-day best exposed in the riverward edges 
of the terraces. Along the Mississippi excellent exposures are 
found in the railroad cuts near Hamburg and in the Morehouse 
and Avoyelles hills (PI. xxxi), while on Red River nota- 
ble outcrops are found at St. Andres Bluff, near Colfax; at 
Campti; at Red Bluff, east of Frierson; on the Kansas City 
Southern Railway, north of Wallace, Cross, and Ferry lakes; in 
Caddo Parish; at Red Bluff, near Bodcau; at Hurricane Bluffs, 
in Bossier Parish;^"* and at Fulton and Mandeville, on the vSt. 
lyouis. Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, in Arkansas (PI, 

XXVIl). 

Occasionally some of the large animals which then lived in this 
portion of the country wandered into these marshes and became 
mired. Among the bones preserved in this way are species of 
the Mastodon, and Elephas, of the Mylodon, Megalonyx, Megath- 
erium, and Glypiodon, large animals akin to the sloths, and arm- 
adillos^ now found in South America, a camel, a large elk, and a 
prehistoric horse but little different from the domestic horse of 
today. 



73 Third Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey L/Ouisiaua for 1871, 1872, p. 177; Geol, 
Survey lyouisiana, Rept. for 1899 [1900], pp. 190-191. 

74 See Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. for 1899 [1900] pp. 113-114, 189-192; 
Third Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Louisiana, for 1871, 1872, pp. 185-190. 



W a 





n 


tfl 




> 






w 


O 




►ti 






1^ 






w 


r«5 


> 


z 


•1 
< 


>v 


n 




>-! 


% 










K 


H 




c 


w 




&. 






o 


o 




^ 


r1 




r-^ 


M 






W 




-1 


W 




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50 




fH 


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vhatch] UnderCt round Water of Northern La 



These deposits are 
all essentially fluvia- 
tile or estuarine in 
origin, and the pres- 
ent level tops of their 
remnants, which form 
terraces along the 
sides of the principal 
valleys (fig. 23), indi- 
cate that this depres- 
sion was not over 100 
feet below the present 
level. On Red River 
the height of the ter- 
races is seldom over 
60 feet above the pres- 
ent bottom lands, and 
in the Mississippi Val- 
ley, near the Arkan- 
sas-Louisiana State 
line, it ranges from 60 
to 80 feet. To the 
north the terraces be- 
come lower, and in 
southeastern Missouri 
they have an elevation 
of but 20 to 30 feet," 
a variation which is 
perhaps due to recent 
movements either 
along the line of the 
Angelina- Caldwell 
flexure, the Red River- 
Alabama Landing 
fault, or both (PL 
xxxvii). 

These clay terrace 



75Marbut, C. F., Univ. 
of Missouri Studies, vol. 
I, No. 3, 1902, p 16. 




299 



52 Geol. Surv. i^A. Report of 1905 [buliv. 4 

deposits are continued southward in the pine meadows of eastern 
lyouisiana and the prairie and pine flats of southwestern L,ouisiana, 
which are doubtless of the same age. The hills which border the 
Bayou Teche, the Grand Coteau des Opelousas, and the Cote 
Gelee, represent the eastern scarp of this prairie region where it 
has been cut by the Mississippi, They are but the southern 
representatives of the isolated terrace remnant, the Avoyelles 
Hills, which is the connecting link between them and the Mis- 
sissippi and Red River terraces (fig. 23). With the exception of 
the present sea marsh and the inconsiderable alluvial deposits 
of the present Mississippi flood plain, these coastal prairies are 
the most recent deposits of southern Louisiana above sea level. 



DEPOSITION OF THE LOESS 

Near the close of this low-level period great floods of water 
from the glaciers to the north brought down large quantities of 
very fine yellow rock meal. This, is now found capping the 
highest hills east of the Mississippi as far south as the Mississippi- 
lyouisiana State line and west of the Mississippi, in Arkansas and 
lyouisiana, only on Crowleys Ridge, and at Sicily Island. It 
was early recognized at Vicksburg by Lyell and by him correlated 
with similar deposits in the Rhine Valley called " loess. "^* By 
some it is thought to represent the natural levees of an immensely 
swollen Mississippi, but the hypothesis best supported by the 
known facts is that it was deposited by glacial flood waters over 
the Mississippi plain and formed great mud flats, from which 
after drying, it was conveyed to its present position by the wind." 



BROSION OF THE PORT HUDSON DEPOSITS 

With the elevation that followed the Port Hudson period of 
low-level the main streams began to cut out the deposits which 
partially filled their valleys. This erosion which was the last of 
the major stages in the formation of the present topography, has 

7«Ivyell, Charles, Second visit to the United States, 1849, vol. 2, pp. 194- 

195- 

77 For an excellent summary of this question see Chamberlain, T. C, Jour. 
Geol. vol. 5, 1897, pp. 795-802. 

300 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 53 

resulted in the partial removal of the Port Hudson deposits, 
which in northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas are now 
found as terraces along the sides and underlying the present 
flood plains at no verj' great depth. '•* The nearness of the Port 
Hudson sediments to the surface and the relative thinness of the 
present alluvial deposits indicate that the flood plains of all the 
larger rivers of this area, except, perhaps, the Mississippi plain 
below Donaldsonville and New Orleans are to be regarded, on the 
whole, as destructional rather than constructional plains. 

The amount of erosion accomplished in post- Port Hudson time 
is very small when compared with that accomplished in the long 
and complex late Tertiary and early Quaternary period of erosion, 
when the main topographic features of this region were produced. 

To the south the plain, which was continuous with the Ope- 
lousas Hills and low bluffs along the Mississippi near Baton 
Rouge and which formed an integral part of the prairies and 
pine flats of Louisiana, was broadly trenched leaving these bluffs 
on either side to indicate its former height and extent. In cen- 
tral Louisiana the Avoyelles Hills were separated, on the one 
hand, from the Opelousas Hills by a broad valley, formerly the 
flood plain of Red River, but now occupied by Bayou Boeuf (fig. 
23), and, on the other hand, from the terraces to the northwest, 
whose edge is represented by Grimes and Innes bluffs, by the 
more recent Red River bottoms. In the Red River valley the 
" upland flats " were made into terrace benches at this time by 
the trenching of the Port Hudson deposits. To-day these 
"upland flats" form a notable minor feature of the topography 
and are particularly well developed in Lafayette County, Ark., 
and Bossier Parish, La., along what is perhaps the old course of 
Red River, which after the filling of the valleys, was abandoned 
for a more westerly course following the smaller valley of Sul- 
phur Fork through eastern Caddo Parish (Pis. xxv, A; xxvii). 

In parts of the Mississippi Valley where the erosion has been 
somewhat irregular these Port Hudson deposits have not been 



7^Hilgard, E. W. , On the geological history of the Gulf of Mexico : Proc. 
Ara. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1871, pp. 230-236; Am. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., vol. 2, 
1871, pp. 398-404 ; 48th Cong., 1st sess , House Ex. Doc. No. 37, vol. 19, 
1884, pp. 480-4S1 ; Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. for 1899 [1900], pp. 118, 
175-176 ; Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, pp, 138-169. 

30 [ 



54 



Geoi.. Surv. IvA. Report of 1905 



[bui,Iv. 4 



completely worn down to the level of the surrounding gradational 
plains, and these remnants, though much below the height of 
the main terraces, are still noteworthy because of their peculiar 
soil, their relief above the bottoms, and the fact that the banks 
of the waterways traversing them are lower than the surround- 
ing lands — like true upland creeks — while in the recent flood- 
plains the banks are typically higher and form more or less pro- 
nounced natural levees. To this class belong the Bayou Macon 
Hills (fig. 23, p, 51, PI. XXVII,) and the hardly noticeable eleva- 
tion just above high water extending from the high Bastrop 
Hills northward toward Dermot, Ark. 

On the small tributary streams in the hill-land areas, especially 
toward the headwaters, the cutting has been less, and the pres- 
ent flood plains of these minor streams are often essentially the 



NP«^ 


Boft'om lands 


... v^2i^i:i. 






\ ^^'^^ 




if/' High\hills of 

,'■:,',/ ^ icily y si and 


Tertiary ■^^•^ 
strafa / 

Harr-isc)Tibui 


i [ 



~\9. L 


■-., 








\^ '■-._ Terrace / 




"'~"*-^^ 


L-- 


(^v3S^'^^ 


-,<> 




^■s 


T/ff0\^ \ 


S^ 


///^A AAftte 


^ 


"-^^ // 


- X 


Terliary 




■ Y\ ^6 .,-•■■■ 


a" 


strata 




y^ '••■- .■■ 


<(, 




m 


HaxT-i sonbuT^ 


5 






■? . 


miles 


f 



From U.S. Geol. Surv. 

A. Drainage in early Quaternary time. B. Present draiaage. 

Fig. 24. — Change in Ouachita River drainage near Harrisonburg, L,a. 



unaltered surface of the old Port Hudson deposits. Along 
Sabine River, though the Port Hudson deposits form occasional 
low bluffs and rise slightly above the restricted plain of the pres- 
ent river, they are much more a part of the bottoms, with which 
they are commonly classed, than are the terraces along the flood- 
plains of the present Red and Mississippi Rivers, which are com- 
monly regarded as hill lands. 

In the erosion of the relatively level Port Hudson construc- 
tional valley plains several peculiar topographic features have 
been produced. Among these are the gorge-like passage of 
Ouachita River; between Sicily Island Hills and the main 



302 



vkatch] Underground Water of Northern L,a. 



55 



uplands in Catahoula Parish, La.; the transverse cutting of the 
high terrace remnants by Bayou Bartholomew, Boeuf River 
and Deer Creek; and the level of the land immediately border- 
ing the Ouachita lower than that bordering the Mississippi at 
the Arkansas-Louisiana State line (Pis. xxv, xxvii). 



DIVERSION OF THE OUACHITA RIVER NEAR HARRISONBURG, LA. 

Because of the hardness of the Catahoula formation, a notable 
contraction has been produced in the Mississippi Valley where 
these beds cross it (Pis. xxv, B, xxvii); in the period 
of high level preceding the Port Hudson deposition the 
group of hills forming the present Sicily Island hill mass was 



Sicily Island 




From U. S. Geoi. Surv. 

Fig. 25. — Diagram illustrating the deflection of Ouachita River and the cause of the for- 
mation of the Catahoula Shoals near Harrisonburg, L,a. 

a. Catahoula Shoals; old divide between north and south flowing drainage, 
i-i. Beds of north and south flowing minor streams (First Stage). 
2-2. Original level of valley filling (Second Stage). 
3-3. Present Ouachita flood plain (Third Stage). 



but a promontory on the main Catahoula hill mass and Ouachita 
River flowed to the east of it (fig. 24 A). When the main valley 
region was partially filled during the succeeding low-level period, 
the low divide between the two minor stream valleys, which 
partially separated this hill mass from the hills to the west, was 
buried with fluviatile sediments which extended 60 feet above the 
pre.sent bottoms (figs. 23, 25), The Sicily Island hill group was 
thus entirely separated from" the main hill mass by a relatively 
flat fluviatile plain which was but a portion of the larger con- 
structional plain occupying the whole Mississippi Valley (fig. 25). 
This plain was doubtless slightly higher in the main valley where 
the Mississippi brought down large quantities of sediments and 
the Ouachita naturally occupied the lower ground, and so passed 

3C'3 



56 Gkol. Surv. lyA. Report op 1905 [bui.1.. 4 

to the west of the Sicily Island hill mass (fig. 24). In the suc- 
ceeding period, when the streams cut out a portion of this filling 
and formed the terraces, the Ouachita cut down and became 
superimposed on the old rocky divide between the former north 
and south flowing creeks, and thus formed the present Catahoula 
Shoals (fig. 25). 



transverse; channels of bayou Bartholomew, boeuf river, and 

deer creek 

When the slight uplift following the Port Hudson low-level 
caused the streams to commence trenching the Port Hudson 
Valley plains, Ouachita River, which then joined the main flood 
plain at about its present juncture with Saline River in southern 
Arkansas (PI. xxv, B), early gained the ascendency over the 
other streams of the valley. This is evidenced by the courses of 
the tributary streams — the Bartholomew, the Boeuf, and Deer 
Creek — which pass through the intervening terrace remnants in 
more or less pronounced gorges to join it (PI. xxvii). 
The cause of this ascendency is, primarily, that the greater 
amount of sediment carried by the Mississippi tended to produce 
a relatively greater depression along the present course of the 
Ouachita, both in building up and cutting out the Port Hudson 
plain. In the period of low-level the Port Hudson plain was built 
up more rapidly along the greater silt-carrying Mississippi, while 
in the succeeding periods of erosion the Ouachita, being less 
burdened with sediment, more nearly attained a perfect base-level. 
In the beginning of this period of erosion the streams of the 
valley, therefore, drained southwest into the Ouachita, and, as 
the latter has maintained its greater depth, they have continued 
to do so. In this process the streams have become intrenched in 
the Port Hudson deposits and, as a result of this and of the irreg- 
ular removal of the beds by the complex system of drainage in 
the Mississippi bottoms, a stream sometimes leaves a broad flood 
plain and deliberately flows through a range of hills to join 
another flood plain beyond. Thus Bayou Bartholomew follows 
the eastern edge of a well marked terrace escarpment 40 to 60 feet 

304 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 57 

high through Lincoln, Drew, and Ashley counties, Ark., and, 
though separated from the present flood plain of the Mississippi 
in this part of its course by a low, almost imperceptible swell, 
may topographically be regarded as occupying the very western 
edge of the Mississippi bottoms (PI. xxvii). In north- 
ern Louisiana it turns to the southwest, leaves this broad 
plain, and passes, iu a steep-sided valley but a mile or two wide, 
through the escarpment which is continued southward in the 
eastern face of the Bastrop hills. 

Similarly, though in by no means so striking a manner, Bayou 
Boeuf leaves the Mississippi flood plain and passes through a val- 
ley between the Bastrop and Bayou Macon Hills to the Ouachita 
flood plain beyond (Pl.xxvii). 

Farther to the south Deer Creek cuts obliquely across the 
Bayou Macon Hills and separates them from the terraces flanking 
the Sicily Island hill mass. 

DIFFERENCE IN LEVEL BETWEEN THE OUACHITA AND MISSISSIPPI FLOOD 
PLAINS AT THE LOUISIANA-ARKANSAS STATE LINE. 

The difference in the height of the banks of the Mississippi 
and those of the Ouachita in the latitude of the Arkansas-Louis- 
iana State line is very striking, the top of the former being 112 
feet above sea level and that of the latter but 63 feet . The 
diflference is, however, somewhat exaggerated by a small, very 
recent fault which cuts across the valley near Alabama Landing, 
La., and which if it continues across the Mississippi flood 
plain has been completely obliterated by the great amount of 
sediment carried by that river. The true ratio, with the recent 
displacement of this fault allowed for, is about 112 to 88 — still a 
striking difference in the elevation of the main stream of the 
valley and one of its tributaries. 

FORMATION OF NATURAL MOUNDS 
GENERAL CHARACTER AND THEORIES OF ORIGIN 

Some time after the formation of Port Hudson plains a vast 
number of low mounds, rudely circular, 20 to 100 feet in diam- 
eter and 3 to 5 feet high, were formed. These mounds have an 
extremely wide distribution. They are well developed on the 

305 



58 Geol. Surv. La. Report of 1905 [bui,i,. 4 

prairies and pine flats of the Port Hudson deposits along the 
coast of Louisiana and Texas, where they form the now well- 
known "pimple prairies," and are popularly associated with the 
oil deposits, with which, howeyer, they are in no way genetically 
connected. They occur irregularly throughout the Coastal Plain 
in northern Louisiana, northeastern Texas, Arkansas, and south- 
eastern Missouri, except in the present flood plains. They are 
best developed on the Port Hudson terraces, but extend also over 
the hill lands. They are not restricted to any geologic forma- 
tion or any range of elevation. The material of which they are 
composed is commonly a very fine loam, which is reported by the 
agriculturists to be coarser than, and quite distinct from the sur- 
rounding soil, which is commonly clay. Oil-well drillers in 
southern Louisiana and southeastern Texas report the material in 
these mounds to be entirely different from the surrounding soil 
and exactly the same as the fine sand found beneath the 50 to 
100 feet of surface clay. The apparent difference in composition 
is, however, not so great as it seems at first sight and is in part 
due to the greater elevation and consequent better drainage of the 
mounds. Careful mechanical analyses will be necessary to deter- 
mine the true character and degree of this difference. 

Mr. J. A. Taff, of the U. S. Survey, reports that similar 
mounds are very abundant through Indian Territory, where 
they are best developed on the plains formed during the Tertiary 
by the erosion of the highly inclined Carboniferous shales and 
sandstones. They are there, as throughout the Coastal Plain, 
composed of somewhat coarser materials than that of the sur- 
rounding lands, which are commonly flat and water-soaked, 
while the mounds stand out as somewhat sandy islands, Mr. 
M. K. Shaler, field assistant, who during the season of 1904 
worked with Mr, Taff in Indian Territory, reports that identical 
mounds occur in southeastern Kansas, 

The question of the origin of these mounds is one of the most 
perplexing problems of this region and can not yet be said to be 
satisfactorily solved, though the range of possibility has been 
somewhat narrowed by recent work. The theories which have 
thus far been advanced may be grouped as follows: 



306 



veatch] I'ndkkground Water of Northern La. 59 

( a. Garden beds. 

1. Human "' ; b. Tepee or wigwam sites. 

( c. Burial mounds. 

. • ,0. \ a. Ant hills. 

2. Animal^ , ,, j c i • • i 

I b. Mounds or burrowing animals. 

„. . • c, ( a. Great currents of floods. 

T,. W ater erosion ' < .01 • ..111 

•^ ( b. Slow erosion at low level. 

a. Springs or "aqueous" volcanoes due to artesian pres- 
sure. 

4. Eruptions ^=. . . -] b. Gas vents 

I c. Eruptions due to the unequal weight of an uneven 
[clay layer on a water-logged sand bed. 
fa. Low dunes collected by scanty vegetation in a 
I semiarid region of variable winds. 

2 Wind ^3 ^ b. "roots wads." Masses of earth lifted by the up- 

I rooting of trees in storms, which have perhaps been 
1^ enlarged or modified by burrowing animals. 

Of these theories those deserving the most careful attention 
are (i) the spring and gas-vent theory, (2) the dune theory, and 
(3) the ant-hill theory. 

SPRING AND GAS-VENT THEORY 

The spring and gas- vent theorj^ has, until the last year, seemed 
the most probable of the several hypotheses advanced. The 

'9 Nadaillac, Marquis de, Prehistoric America, translated by N. d'Auvers, 
New York, 1895, p. 182. Lockett, S. H., First Ann, Rept. Topog. Survey, 
Louisiana, for 1869, 1870, pp. 66-67; Geol. Survey, Louisiana; Rept. for 1899, 
[1900], p. 194. 

^° Hilgard, E. W., Supplemental and final report of a Geological Recon- 
noissance of Louisiana, 1873, p. 11. 

■• Owen, D. D , Second Report of a Geological Reconnoissance of part of 
the state of Arkansas, Philadelphia, i860, p. 144. Lerch, Otto, A prelimi- 
nary report on the hills of Louisiana south of the Vicksburg,Shreveport and 
Pacific Railwa}'; Bull. Louisiana State Exper. Sta. , Geology and Agricul- 
ture, pt. 2, 1893, p. 106. 

^^ Memorial and explorations of the Hon. J. B. Robertson in relation to 
the agriculture, mineral, and manufacturing resources of the state 
(Louisiana), with the report of the joint committee: Doc. 2d sess., 2d 
Legis., Rept. No. 23, 1867; also separate, New Orleans, 1867, pp. 14-15. 
Hopkins, F. V; First Ann. Rept. GeoL Survey Louisiana, 1869, 1870, pp. 80- 
82. Clendenin, W. W., A preliminary report upon the Florida parishes of 
east Louisiana and the bluff, prairie, and hill lands of southwest Louisiana; 
Bull. Louisiana State Exp. Sta , Geology and Agriculture, pt. 3, 1896, pp. 
179-183; Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. for 1899 ['90o], pp. 193-194. 

^3 Featherman, A., Third Ann. Rept. Botanical Survey of Southwest and 
Northwest Louisiana, 1871, 1S72, pp. 106-107. Clendenin, W. W., op. cit., p. 
180. 

307 



6o Geol. Surv. of La. Report op 1905 [bui,i.. 4 

argument in this case is that throughout the. Coastal Plain strata 
there are large amounts of vegetable matter from which gas has 
been slowly generating. This gas, with the associated artesian 
water, on escaping has brought to the surface fine sands and 
built up low cones. In substantiation of this hypothesis two 
lines of evidence were adduced. First, there are at widely separ- 
ated points — namely, near Sulphur City, L,a., and near Teneha, 
in northwestern Texas, in regions covered with mounds, a 
number of low cones a few inches in height and a few feet in 
diameter in the course of formation (PI. xxxii). In both cases 
the very fine sand composing the cones was being brought up by 
the flow of gas and water in the center of the cone. Second, it 
is commonly reported by the oil-well drillers in southern 
Louisiana and southeastern Texas, though the statement could 
not be satisfactorily verified, that wells sunk on the mounds yield 
more gas than those in the intermound spaces. In these cases 
it has been assumed that the gas was of slightly more importance 
than the artesian water. It is, however, probable that the water 
was the principal cause and the gas but an accessory. Shepherd ^* 
has described low spring cones in southeastern Missouri, which 
are clearly of the same character as those just described. The 
region in which these occur is likewise covered with natural 
mounds. A number of cones and irregular "sand sloughs" 
were produced by water and gas eruptions or by water alone 
during the New Madrid earthquake of 1811-12, and these have 
naturally led to the classification of all the mounds in this 
section as of similar origin. From an examination of some of 
the mounds in southeastern Missouri along the line of the St. 
Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, the writer is 
inclined to doubt this generalization and to regard the greater 
number of them as identical with the same phenomena to the 
south and west, and not of the same origin as the low spring 
cones or the eruptions of the New Madrid earthquake. This 
locality is, however, the best argument for a water and 
gas origin. On Long Island, New York, there are a number 
of low mud cones which, while not entirely identical with the 



^-t Shepherd, E. M., The New Madrid earthquake. Jour. Geol., vol. 13^ 
1905, pp. 45-62. 

308 




[F- 



hfe^ 








is 



^ 




o 




veatchJ Underground Water of Northern La. 6i 

mounds, are of interest as examples of cones produced by artesian 
pre'^surc (Pl.xxxiii). 

DUNE THEORY 

A wind origin was suggested for these southern mounds by 
Featherman in 1872^' and by Clendenin in 1896/* Recently 
Dr. C. VV. Hayes, after having examined the mounds in south- 
eastern Texas, observed very similar low mounds clearly due to 
wind action 15 or 20 miles southwest of Green River City, in 
southwestern Wyoming, and concluded that the Coastal Plain 
mounds were of the same origin. The objection to this theory, 
which is regarded as more probable than that just discussed, is 
the very great irregularity of wind-made features and the fact 
that these natural mounds of the south-central United States, over 
an area at least 300 miles wide and 500 miles long, are notably 
uniform in size and exactly resemble one another. It would 
seem that in so large an area a wind origin would involve a 
greater variation in size than has been observed and would 
necessitate the presence of occasional dunes or lines of dunes of 
noteworthy size whose origin could not in any way be doubted. 
This hypothesis, moreover, requires an arid or semiarid climate in 
this region at a very recent time, of which there is no other evidence 
and which, in the present state of the investigation, can hardly 
be considered as conclusively proved. 

ANT-HII.I. THEORY 

In considering the ant-hill hypothesis it must be conceded at 
the outset that in size and distribution these mounds exceed the 
work of any mound-building insects in this country. They 
are, however, approximated in size by some of the mounds 
of the leaf-cutting ants, the Atta. These are reported by Dr. 
W. M. Wheeler, formerly professor of zoology in the Scate Uni- 
versity of Texas and an authority on ants, to reach a diameter in 
Texas of 40 to 50 feet and a height of i to 2 feet. He states that 
the hills are very stable and persist after the colony has migrated 



"5 Third Ann. Rept. Botanical Survey of Southwest and Northwest Louis- 
iana, 1S71, 1872, pp. 106-107. 

°^ Preliminary report upon the Florida parishes of east Louisiana and the 
bluff, prairie, and hill lands of southwest Louisiana; Bull. La. State Exp. 
Sta., Geology and Agriculture, pt. 3, 1896, p. 180. 

309 



62 



Geol. Surv. of La. Report of 1905 [bull. 4 



or become extinct. Mr. E. A. Schwarz, of the National Museum, 
reports that in Cuba the Atta hills often reach a height of 10 to 
12 feet, with a diameter several times as great, and in places com- 
pletely overrun the cane fields. These occurrences greatly 
re-enforce the theory of an ant origin. 

An alternative "ant theory" is that these mounds are the work 




From U. S. Geol. Suiv. 
Fio 26. — An African termite hill. (Drawingfrom photograph by Sir 
H. H. Johnston. 88) Note the broad, low mound, on which the central 
spire rests, produced by wash of the central hill. 

of mound-building varieties of the so-called "white ants" 
(termites), which are notably developed in the tropical parts of 
South America and Africa and in Australia.^' The immense hills 



^7 For a discussion of termites see Encylcopsedia Brittannica, loth ed., 
vol. 33, T902, pp. 255-256, and the references there given. 

310 



V! r 



t o 






X ■£ 




veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 63 

of certain varieties of these termites, notably Termes bellicosus, 
which forms a very important minor topographic feature over 
wide areas in Africa, are the nearest approach of any insect work 
to these natural mounds, both in size and bulk of material repre- 
sented. These structures have a conical, sugar-loaf, or bee-hive 
shape and range from 6 to 20 feet in height and 50 or more feet 
in diameter (fig. 26). They are composed of mud in which more 
or less vegetable matter is mixed, and so, like the mounds, are 
best developed in clay regions. Should these cones be deserted 
by the termites, they would weather down into broad, low mounds 
which because of their greater height and of the vegetable 
matter mixed with them, would have a looser character than the 
surrounding soil. 

Regarded as the work of termites, these mounds suggest a 
warmer and moister climate, though modifications such as those 
which enabled large elephants, camels, and animals of the sloth 
and armadillo families to live in this region would also have 
enabled these now similarly restricted mound-building termites 
to do the same, and the causes which resulted in the extinction 
of the larger animals would in like manner, though at a later 
date, have destroyed the termites. 

Opposed to the termite theory and pointing to a rodent origin 
is the fact that in exceptional cases in southern Arkansas these 
mounds are covered with gravel. This is more probably due to 
subsequent work of burrowing animals. 

In conclusion it may be said that these mounds are clearly due 
to causes not now in operation in this region, and no theory of 
origin yet suggested is entirely satisfactory. The dune and ant- 
hill theories are, perhaps, the best supported. On either of these 
hypotheses the mounds are indications of important climatic 
changes in recent time, and so offer a line of investigation which 
may develop very important and far-reaching results.**' 

^^ British Central Africa, New York, 1897, p. 371. 

^9 Since the above was written the following short articles, discussing the 
general subject of natural mounds, have appeared in Science: Branner, John 
C, Science, n. s., vol. 21, 1905, pp. 514-515; Hilgard, E. W., id., pp. 551- 
552; Spillman, W. J., id,, p. 632; Purdue, A. H., id., pp. 823-824; and Piper, 
C. v., id., pp. 824-825. Branner and Purdue suggest that these mounds 
may represent immense concretionary formations. Spillman refers certain 

3" 



64 Geol. Surv. op La. Report of 1905 [bui,i<. 4 

RECENT 

In Recent time, which may be defined more or less arbitrarily 
as that since the extinction of the mastodon and associated ani- 
mals, and in this region more particularly as that since the com- 
pletion of the main erosion of the Port Hudson deposits in the 
larger valleys, the topographic and geologic changes have been 
very slight. With the exception of irregular benches on the bill- 
sides produced by landslips which, as their formation began in 
early Quaternary time, are only in part Recent, the effects of 
these changes are noteworthy only in the bottoms. Aside from 
such local results as the destruction of river banks, the building 
of bars, and the formation of cut-offs, all produced by the wan- 
dering of the principal rivers in their flood plains and the building 
up of the front lands above the back lands by the deposition of 
sediment in overflows, the most important of these changes are 
(i) the formation and destruction of the lakes of Red River Val- 
ley, (2) the deflection of Red River through a narrow gap in the 
terrace deposits near Marksville, (3) the production of the 
"Rapides" near Alexandria, (4) the development of small rapids 
on Sabine and Angelina rivers and the production of a low 
swampy area in the latter above the rapids, and (5) a slight move- 
ment along the Red River fault line near Alabama Landing, La., 
with the resultant extreme swamping of the bottoms from that 
point to above the mouth of Bayou Moro, in Arkansas. 

Of these, the ^formation and destruction of the lakes of Red 
River Valley is by far the most important, and, happening, as it 
has, in historic and semi-historic times, is of peculiar interest as 
an example of geology in the making. 

mounds in southwest Missouri to unequal weatbering of limestone contain- 
ing large chert masses. Branner gives many references to the mounds of 
the Pacific coast, for which he states the following theories have been 
advanced: (i) surface erosion, (2) glacial origin, (3) aeoHan origin, (4) human 
origin, (5) burrowing animals, including ants and (6) fish nests exposed by 
elevation. Bushnell, D. I., jr., Science, n. s., vol. 22, 1905, pp. 712-714, 
has suggested the human origin theory, and this phase of the matter has 
been discussed by the writer in Science., n. s., vol. 23, 1906, pp. 34-36. 



312 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 65 



STRUCTURE 

BROADER STRUCTURAL FEATURES RESULTING FROM CAUSES 
ASSOCIATED WITH CONDITIONS OF DEPOSITION 

Earlier chapters in historical geology indicate that the Juras- 
sic land surface waspeueplaiuedin this region, and very gradually 
warped in two principal directions. It was gently tilted south- 
ward in the direction of the present Gulf coast, and later, while 
the gulfward tilting was still continuing, a broad trough was 
developed southwest along the axis of the present Mississippi 
Valley, which, indeed, owes its origin to this fold. The general 
effect of this tilting was to give to all the beds deposited by the 
ocean on this old land surface a very gentle slope toward the 
Gulf, and, after a time, toward the Mississippi Valley. The rel- 
ative intensity of these two slopes depended on the location; near 
the Mississippi Valley the slope toward the trough was more 
important, while to the east and west the gulfward slope increased 
in value until it became the principal element. The effect of 
this very slow progressive tilting and the usual wedge or lens 
shape of marine deposits, which are thin toward the land and 
thicker seaward, was to give to the lowest beds a greater slope 
than the succeeding ones.'° (Pis. xxvii, xxxviii, sees. B, D, E, 
F, G, H, I). 

Thus the older Cretaceous beds — the Trinity, Goodland (Fred- 
ericksburg), and Washita formations — which attain great 
thickness in central Texas, grow thinner in passing eastward 
along the outcrop, and finally disappear in southwestern Arkan- 
sas. (See PI. XXVII, compare sees. F, D, E, B, PI. xxxviii). 
The lowest formation of the upper Cretaceous in Arkansas, the 
Bingen, likewise thins out rapidly to the east, while to the west 
it grades into a very thick series, which ultimately becomes two 
or three distinct formations ( compare sees. E, D, H, PL 
xxxviii). In the latter part of the Cretaceous, with the 
development of the Mississippi embay ment, the deep water shifted 
eastward, and the clays of this period, which are dark and cal- 

9° Still farther seaward the beds again grow thinner, but no such thinning 
has been observed in this area, and it is presumed that the point where 
these beds thin out is beyond the area under discussion. 

313 



66 GeoIv. Surv. of La. Re:^ort of 1905 [bui.i<. 4 

careous in Texas, contain, in the Arkansas and Mississippi 
regions, large amounts of chalk and chalk marls. 

In the Tertiary strata somewhat similiar causes have resulted 
in the entire absence of the Vicksburg beds west of Catahoula 
Parish, La. (Pl.-xxvii.) 

Besides these variations in thickness and lithological charac- 
ters, due to conditions intimately connected with deposition, and 
the initial dips due to the gentle tilting of the surface of the old 
Triassic peneplain, notable variations in the structure have been 
produced in several other ways; (i) by the domes, (2) by the 
Angelina-Caldwell flexure, (3) by the Red River- Alabama Land- 
ing fault. 

CHANGES BY SUBSEQUENT OROGRAPHIC MOVEMENTS 

DOMES 

The domes, twelve of which are now known in northern Louisi- 
ana and eastern Texas (PI. xxxviii), the presence of a thirteenth 
being suspected, are by far the most unique structural feature in 
this region. They are very symmetrical, four sided folds or 
quaquaversals of Cretaceous strata, about a mile in diameter, that 
represent deformations of from 1,000 to 4,000 feet. They pene- 
trate the Eocene beds without materially disturbing them, except, 
perhaps the Midway, and though their major development and 
partial truncation by erosion occurred during the late Cretaceous 
and early Tertiary, the Winnfield dome is known to have moved in 
post-Claiborne time, and the Belle Isle, one of a series of closely 
related domes in southern Louisiana, shows movements in Quat- 
ernary time.'' In point of origin it is thought that these domes 
were perhaps produced by the upward pressure of intrusions of 
igneous rocks of limited area (see p. 18), and so may be termed 
bysmalithic''' domes or bysmalithic quaquaversals.'^ 



9' Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. for 1899, 1900, pp. 228-229; Geol. Survey 
Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, pp, 99-100. 

s^Iddings, Jour. Geol., vol. 6, 1898 pp. 705-706. 

93 Since the above was written I have found that Lee Hager (Eng. and 
Min. Jour., vol. 78, 1904, pp. 137-139, 180-183) has suggested a hypothesis 
which explains the origin of these and very similar domes in southern 
Louisiana and southeastern Texas by the upthrust of an igneous plug. His 

314 



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veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 67 

angelina caldwell flexure 

The low Angelina-Caldwell monoclinal flexure is known to 
extend from Angelina County, Tex., through Louisiana north of 
Natchitoches, Winnfield, and Columbia to Mississippi River north 
of Vicksburg (Pis, xxxvii; xxxviii, sees. A, B, C, D, F). It 
began to develop in Tertiary time, perhaps as early as the Oligo- 
cene, and is still a line of weakness. Recent movement along 
its west end has resulted in the formation of a series of shoals 
on Sabine River and in the swamping of a part of the Angelina 
River Valley in Angelina and Nacogdoches counties, Tex. It 
has almost entirely destroyed the southern element of the dip 
of the beds between its northern edge and a point about 60 
miles south of the Paleozoic border. Along the line of the 
flexure the dip of the Claiborne beds ranges from 46 feet at 
Vicksburg to 150 feet on Sabine River. Still farther south the 
dip becomes less, though this change of the dip has as yet been 
actually observed only on Sabine River, where, between Hattens 
Ferry and Burrs Ferry, it changes from 150 feet to about 30 feet 
per mile (PI. xxvii). 

It should be noted that the Nacogdoches oil field occurs near 
the upper bend of this monocline, and that the oil springs reported 
in Sabine Parish, La., occur in the same relation to this fold. 



theory is in the most essential particulars parallel to the one here advanced. 
The fact that two workers in this field have independently arrived at the 
same hypothesis as the only one at all in accordance with the known facts 
greatly adds to its probable value. Mr. Hager's suggestion that the won- 
derful salt, sulphur, aud gypsum deposits of this southern region are not of 
normal marine origin, but were concentrated and redeposited by the heated 
waters circulating around these igneous intrusions, and that these deposits 
are to be regarded as essentially the product of the change in conditions 
produced by these intrusions, appeals to me as the most probable theory 
that has yet been advanced. The stratigraphic and structural relations of 
the salt deposits of Grand Saline, Tex., are not well known, but the beds 
here do not indicate a dome, and 'the salt beds have therefore been referred 
to ordinary salt-pan action. The brines of the various northern Louisiana 
salines are in part clearly derived from water-bearing Cretaceous beds 
which have been brought up by this extreme folding, but the brines may 
be in part derived from salt beds formed about the center cf the uplift and 
as yet unexposed. 

3'5 



68 GeoIv. Surv. of IvA. Report of 1905 [buli,. 4 

red river-alabama landing fault 
The Red River-Alabama Landing fault extends across northern 
Louisiana and southern Arkansas into northeastern Texas, 
approximately in the position shown on PI. xxxvii, though in a 
much more irregular manner. Like the Angelina-Caldwell 
flexure, it is of late Tertiary age and has been the site of move- 
ment in the present time. The total displacement or " throw " 
of this fault along the Little Rock-Marksville section (PI. 
XXXVIII, sec. B), where the data regarding it are most complete, 
is in the neighborhood of 600 feet, with the downthrow to the 
north. 

The throw of the Red River fault, of which this seems to be 
the continuation, is given by Hill as about 626 feet at Preston 
and 617 feet north of Denison, Tex. The close agreement of 
these figures is very surprising when the distance between the 
places of measurement — about 275 miles — is considered, as such 
uniformity of fault structure is unusual. 

Evidence of recent movement along this line is found on the 
Ouachita River just above Alabama Landing, where the dis- 
placement revealed by the careful levels of the United States 
engineers is 25 feet (PI. xxxvi). This movement, which is 
so recent that the river has not yet perceptibly filled the depres- 
sion, has resulted in the production of an extremely low, swampy 
area extending almost to the mouth of Smackover Creek in 
Arkansas. 



LOCAL STRUCTURAL FEATURES 
Besides these broader structural features, there are in every 
locality many minor examples of faults and folds on a minute 
scale that have no bearing on the general structure of the region, 
but are of importance to the teacher and student as examples of 
the larger and much more obscure occurrences. These little 
structural phenomena are generally the result of the readjust- 
ment of the strata resulting from erosion, and in some cases to 
slight readjustments produced by earthquakes. 

316 



La. Geoi.. Surv. 



Report for 1905, Bull. 4, Pl. XXXVI. 



'•■'°"' U. S, Geol. 




Recent Fault crossing ihe Ouachita bottoms near Alabama Lauding, La., inferred from " Profile of Bottom of channel and right bank of the Ouachita and Black rivers from Red Rixer, La., to Camden, Ark., by the U. S. Hngineers." 



La. Gkol. Surv.- 



Report of iqo.s, Buli,. 4, Pl XXXVII 




PRINCIPAL STRUCTURAL FEATURES OF THE COASTAL PLAIN IN NORTHERN LOUISIANA AND SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 
WITH SOME OF THE STRUCTURAL FEATURES OF ADJOINING AREAS. 



1905 
LEGEND 



Tertiary 
with Quarternary 
Covering in olaces. 



Archeah and PaleQa^otc. 



From n. S. Geol, Surv. 



i 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La.. 69 

DIP or STRATA 

The direction and character of the dip of the strata is shown 
on the structural (PI. xxvii) and hydrologic sections (PI. xxxviii) 
and may be inferred from the figures given on the underground- 
water maps (Pis. XL-xLiii). However, the following values may 
be of interest: 

The slope of the old Triassic land surface, or the "bed rock," 
is from 100 to 125 feet per mile all along the Cretaceous- Paleozoic 
contact in southern Arkansas from Arkadelphla westward. North- 
east of Arkadelphia nothing is definitely known regarding its 
slope, and there is some indication that it may be faulted. 

The dip of the upper part of the Bingen formation (the sub. 
Clarksville sand) is 70 feet per mile about Gurdon and 80 feet 
per mile at Texarkana. 

The Nacatoch sands have a dip of 56 feet at Gurdon, 65 feet 
at Hope, 80 feet at Fulton, and 73 feet at Texarkana. 

The southward element of the dip of the base of the Jackson 
north of the Red River-Alabama Landing fault along the line of 
the sections from Vicksburg to Marked Tree (Memphis) (PI. 
XXXVIII, sec. A), and from Monroe to Little Rock (PI. xxxviii, 
sec. B) is about 1.7 feet per mile. 

The southward element of the dip of the base of the Claiborne 
along the Angelina-Caldwell flexure is 46 feet per mile at Vicks- 
burg, 48 feet at Columbia, 50 feet at Colfax, and 150 feet on Sabine 
River. 

The dips toward the Mississippi trough range from 8 to 16 
feet per mile. 



317 



CHAPTER II 

GENERAL UNDERGROUND WATER CONDITIONS 

INTRODUCTION 

SOURCE OF UNDERGROUND WATER 

Of the 40 to 50 inches of rain which commonly fall during each 
year in northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas (fig. 27) a 
considerable portion immediately flows off the surface in streams 
and ultimately reaches the sea. Another portion passes into 
the ground and, after a longer or shorter journey, returns to the 
surface in the form of springs either on the land or under bodies 
of water. In both of these cases a part is lost by evaporation, 
and a certain amount, though a comparatively small percentage, 
is consumed by living organisms and in chemical work. 

The portion which passes into the earth furnishes the entire 
supply of well water both in surface and deep wells. Its availa- 
bility for this purpose at any point and the permanency and qual- 
ity of the supply, as well as the height to which the water will 
rise above the bed in which it is encountered, depend on the 
relative position, elevation, and permeability of the different 
strata in that region. Its potability, or mineral character, 
depends on the soluble minerals contained in the beds through 
which it passes. 

The percentage of the rainfall which sinks into the earth is 
determined by (i) the character of the rains, whether of a slow 
and steady or a torrential nature; (2) the topography of the 
country, whether flat or with many steep slopes; (3) the charac- 
ter of the vegetation covering the surface; and (4) the porosity 
of the soil and the physical character and state of saturation of 
the underlying beds. 

NATURE OF MOVEMENT OF UNDERGROUND WATER 

Except in thick limestone beds containing caverns, under- 
ground waters very rarely travel through channels or conduits of 
appreciable size, or in any way resemble surface streams; and 

•318 



Lai 



Rbport for 1905, Buti.. 4, PL. XXXVIII. 



I 

i 



EXPLANATION 

. — Numborundrrwhtch w«)l ia dUcusied in ChopLcf-V 

Arletlanopnowlojw.ir 

•— Hoi^hl to which w«t«rn9C5 in nonflowinj w.llj 



2 1 *-,.r \Va\rr>PAnng sandt 



WcUk wit'h doited aidcB ar« off ««ctie>ii 1in«t 
*^ •► ^ ^h Ap|/ixudm«to position of prtncipiil w«(«r horizon 

e H.UI. rorr^tU OiariACt^r ortUp stM PIXXJI 



% Koria^tUM^ nJuL vrLLauJ, *UfU», 




MAP SHOWING LOCATION OF SECTIONS AA TO K K 



[ZJ 



^1 

Seclionlinc 



ofwells orr «■» lion h n«s 




S ECTIO N KK 



By A. C. Veatch. 



Report for 1905, BvLh. 4. Pi-- XXXVIII. 




Sections Showing Principal Water-Bearing Horizons in Northern I^ouisiaka, Souther 




I U. S. Geol. Siirv. 
27.— Annual rainfall in northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas compiled from reports cf the United States 
Weather Bureau for the years 1902 and 1903. Lower figures represent period of years ; upper figures, average 
rainfall for period given. 






72 Geol. Surv. of La. Report of 1905 [bui,i.. 4 

seldom can the underground water system of any area be said to 
even remotely "resemble the veins of the human body." The 
true cavern streams furnish an extremely small percentage of 
the world's water supply derived from wells, and well waters on 
the whole are to be regarded as coming from the saturated por- 
tions of porous beds, through which the water moves in the 
small spaces between the particles as the sand of a sand bed or 
sandstone, or the gravel of a gravel bed or conglomerate. This 
motion is to be described as a slow seeping, in which the water 
moves at the rate of a few feet per day, rather than a few miles, 
as in surface streams. 

The manner and character of this flow may be artificially and 
somewhat arbitrarily shown by taking a sand pile of considerable 
size, placed on a relatively hard or impervious material, and 
spraying its center with water. When the lower portion of the 
pile has become saturated, little streams will begin to trickle from 
one or more points at the base, the number depending on the 
shape of the ground where the pile is situated. These little 
rivulets represent springs and it will be found that the water will 
flow for some time after the cessation of the spraying, the length 
of time depending on the size of the pile and the coarseness of 
the particles composing it. Imagine this sand pile increased to 
many feet in thickness and covering the top of a hill or group of 
hills which is underlain by clay beds, and you have an idea of 
the character and cause of many of the springs in northern 
Louisiana and southern Arkansas.^ 

ZONES OF SATURATION 
The effect of this constant influx of water into the earth is to 
completely saturate the rocks between an upper limit, whose 
position depends largely on the amount of rainfall and the relief 
of the country, and a lower limit, fixed by the point below which 
the enormous pressure of the upper layers of rocks prevents the 
existence of spaces of any character between the rock particles. 
The position of this zone of no pores has been estimated by Van 
Hise"" to be about 6 miles from the surface. 



For another type of springs see U.S. Geol. Survey; Prof. Pap., No. 46, p. 76, 
^Sixteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. i, 1896, p. 593. 

320 



vkatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 



73 



MAIN ground-water TABLE. 

The upper limit of this zone of complete saturation is known 
as the main ground-water table. In regions of heavy rainfall it 
is relatively near the surface, while in areas of light precipitation 
it is deep in the ground. The possibility of obtaining water 
below this main ground-water table depends on the location of 
the coarse beds, such as sand and gravel, which will yield their 
contained water readily. Clay beds in this zone, though also 
completely saturated, release the water extremely slowly if at all, 
and have, therefore, no water-bearing value. 




1 mile 



From U. S. Geol. Surv. 

Fig. 28. — Cross section on Long Island, New York, showing the relation of a perched 

water table to the main water table and the production of springs dependent on a 

perched water table. 

PERCHED GROUND-WATER TABLES 
Above this zone of complete saturation and separated from it 
by nonsaturated strata, there are, in regions containing irregular 
clay or relatively impervious beds, more or less elevated, limited, 
and disconnected zones of saturation which may be termed 
" perched water tables." They supply local shallow wells, and 
when cut by valleys produce springs of greater or less import- 

321 



74 



Geol. Surv. of lyA. Report of 1905 [bui,i<. 4 



ance (fig. 28). Wells- dependent on perched water tables are in 
general much less satisfactory than those which pass below the 
main water table, as they derive their supply from more or less 
limited bodies of saturated strata which are quickly affected by 
periods of drought. 

VARIATIONS OF PRESSURE OR HEAD 
The water pressures in the main zone of saturation are very 
unequal. The differences in the coarseness of the strata, the 
leakage through springs, and the constant additions from rain- 
fall prevent their ready equalization. They vary greatly in dif- 
ferent layers in the same region, and in the same layer in different 




Fig. 29. — Experimental illustration of lo^s of head by resistance and leakage. 
(Alter David, 1893.) 

regions. The extent and cause of this variation is indicated by 
the character of the factors in the following equation: 

Pressure head at a given point in any stratum, expressed in feet 

above sea level = elevation of ground-water table at source — 

loss by resistance — loss by leakage. 

All the members on the right-hand side of this equation are 
irregular variables. The first, the elevation of the ground-water 
table at the outcrop or source, depends on the elevation of the 
surface, which changes at different points. The second 
depends on the size of the spaces between the grains, which 
in even the most uniform beds is a constantly changing 
quantity and in beds such as those of the lyower Eocene is 
extremely variable. The third varies with any change in the 

322 



i 



veatchI Underground Water of Northern L,a. 



75 



coarseness of the adjacent beds, which are never constant, and is 
affected by faults, joints, and other natural breaks. 

This variation may be artificially shown in the manner indi- 
cated in fig. 29. In this experiment a tube is filled with sand, 
coarse shot, and marbles, representing beds of different coarse- 
ness, and the lower end of the tube is closed with a brick to pre- 
vent the materials from running out. When water is allowed to 
flow in from above, it rises to different heights in the small tubes, 
representing wells. 




From U. S. Geol. Surv- 
Fig. 30. — Diagram showing the common arrangement of factors producing artesian wells 
A, Artesian wells ; B, head of water if there were no loss by resistance or leakage ; 
C, actual head of hydraulic gradient ; Z), ground-water table at outcrop. 

CAUSES PRODUCING ARTESIAN OR FLOWING WELLS 
It is these variations in the pressure or head that make flow- 
ing or artesian wells possible under certain conditions. These 
may be briefly stated as follows: 

1. There should be relatively porous beds suitably situated to collect and 

transmit the water. 

2. There should be less porous or relatively impervious layers so placed 

that they may confine the water collected. 

3. The level of the ground-water table at the source should be enough 

higher than the surface at the point where the well is drilled to 
compensate for the loss of head due to resistance and leakage. 

In order that the well may be permanently artesian it is also 
necessary that there be sufficient rainfall and that the demand 
be not greater than the rate at which the water can flow through 
the porous stratum or strata. 

The arrangement of the factors which produce a flow is by no 
means constant. They vary considerably from point to point 
and relatively new combinations are to be continually expected. 
Possibly the most usual combination is that shown in the accom- 
panying diagram (fig. 30). Here the confining beds are clay 

323 



76 Geol. Surv. La. Report of 1905 [buli,. 4 

and the porous bed is a sand which dips regularly in the direc- 
tion in which the surface slopes. Water falling in the region 
marked " catchment area " sinks into the sand and supplies the 
artesian wells drilled on lower ground. Most of the artesian 
wells of this region have this arrangement of factors, which 
may be taken as typical of a large class of artesian wells, being 
perhaps, the one most commonly expounded and understood, but 
a radical rearrangement of factors will produce results depending 
on the same general principles.^ 



PRINCIPAL WATER-BEARING HORIZONS 
The water-bearing value of the geologic formations of northern 
Louisiana and their relations to one another are briefly outlined 
in the table opposite and graphically shown on PL xxxviii. 



3 For such exceptions, other than those described on pp. 81-82, see Prof. 
Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 44. 1906, pp. 68-72. 



324 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 77 

Water-bearing value of geologic formations of northern Louisiana.'' 



Geologic sub- 
divisions. 






Alluvium 



Port Hud- 
son forma 
tion. 



Character of deposits. 



Veneer of sand, silt, 
and clay on flood-plains. 



Clays and silts under- 
lain by gravel beds, 
whicli occur beneath all 
the river valleys and as 
terraces along their 
sides. 



Water-bearing value. 



Seldom of value except in connection 
with the underlying Port Hudson de- 
posits. 



The sand and gravel beds of this for- 
mation beneath the river valleys, and 
generally beneath the terraces, yield 
inexhaustible supplies of water, often 
hard and alkaliue. 



Lafayette 
fortnatien. 



Fleming 
clay. 



Catahoula 
formation. 



Vicks- 
burg for- 
mation. 



Jackson 
formation 



Claiborne 
formation. 



Sabine 
formation, 



Midway 
formation. 



Silt, sand, and gravel, 
forming a very irregular 
mantle over the older 
beds. 



Green calcareous clay. 



Green clays, with layer 
of white sand and sand- 
stone. 



Limestones and cal- 
careous clays, somewhat 
lignitifcrous. 



Highly fossiliferous 
calcareous clays. 



Lignitiferous 
sands and clays. 



Calcareous clays, 
changing to the north 
into lignitiferous sands 
and clays. 



Lignitiferous 
and clays. 



Limestones and marly 
clays. 



Of very little value, except in extreme 
southern portion of this region. Sup- 
plies occasional shallow wells, though 
these generally depend on the older 
formations. 



None. Shallow wells in the area of the 
outcrop of this formation depend entirely 
on covering of surficial sand and 
gravel < Lafayette). 



Contains several important horizons in 
central Louisiana. (See PI. xxxviii.) 



Serves in central Louisiana to retain 
water in underlying beds. 



One of the two important water-bear- 
ing formations of the Eocene. Water- 
bearing sands irregularly throughout, 
with the coarser and more prolific beds 
at the base. 



Where typically developed, in central 
Louisiana, has small water-bearing 
value; to the north it contains several 
minor water-bearing horizons. 5 



The most important water-bearing 
formation of the Eocene in this section; 
contains several horizons. 



4 See table of geologic history, pp. 14 and 15. 

5 The water-bearing sands reported in this formation in Alabama and eastern Missis- 
sippi seem to be represented in this region in the water-bearing beds of the basal portion 
of the Cockfield, which is a part of the Claiborne. 



325 



78 Geol. Surv. La. Report of 1905 [buli.. 4 

EOCENE HORIZONS 
SABINE WATER SANDS 

The main Sabine water horizons, as developed in northern 
Louisiana (PI. xxxviii, sees. B, C, D, E, F), occur from 
100 to 200 feet below the lower Claiborne. To the south, where 
the formation thickens considerably, the water-bearing sands 
increase in number and are fairly uniformly distributed through- 
out the Sabine (PI. xxxviii, sees. E, F). In Arkansas a group 
of horizons is found in the Sabine at New Lewisville and Stamps, 
though only the upper ones, near the Claiborne, are generally 
developed. This horizon continues in the Mississippi Valley, 
where it has been successfully developed in many wells. 

Pressure. — The pressure in the Sabine sands in the area in 
which this formation outcrops, and where it is covered by but a 
thin layer of the Claiborne formation, varies almost directly with 
the local topography or the local position of the main ground- 
water table. Here artesian wells are of local and more or less 
accidental occurrence. To the south and east, where these sands 
become embedded beneath the more impervious beds of the lower 
Claiborne, artesian conditions are developed which are uniform 
over considerable areas (PI. xl). Along the Mississippi flood- 
plain the head is greater on the east than on the west, as the 
hill land in northern Mississippi is uniformly higher than that in 
Arkansas and northern Louisiana, which is deeply trenched by 
Ouachita and Red Rivers. 

Quality. — Water from the Sabine horizons is commonly soft 
and somewhat alkaline. Like some of the Cretaceous waters, it 
tends to collect soluble salts and is more highly mineral in deep 
than in shallow wells. In Sabine Parish (966, 969) the deep 
waters are somewhat mineral. At Natchitoches (909, 911) and 
Lueila (906) they are so highly charged with salt that they can 
not be used. This is due perhaps to brine which has leaked from 
the Cretaceous domes to the north. The area in which the water 
in the Sabine sands has been rendered impotable in this way has 
not been determined, but it probably includes southwest Bien- 
ville, eastern Red River, Natchitoches, with the possible excep- 
tion of the west central portion, southern Winn, and central and 
western Grant parishes. At Monroe the water is so mineral that 

326 






liA. GKOt. SURV. 



RUPORT OF 1905, BULI.. 4, PL. XL 




MAPOF SABINE ARTESIAN RESERVOIR IN NORTH LOUISIANA 

BY A. C. VEATCH 



. Cretaceous Outcrops, usually 



€d wUh brine. r.ARGE Figures give depths of base of formation below sea level. S^ 
of waterbearing strata. 



Figures show total depth of wells or depth 



veatchI Underground Water of Northern La. 79 

it is only occasionally used in the city water-works, though 
extensively employed for industrial purposes. At Delhi and 
Vicksburg the water, though artesian, is very alkaline, and this 
condition probably affects a large part of the Mississippi Valley in 
Louisiana east of Ouachita River. Brine has been obtained in 
this horizon at Crossett, Ark. (well 6, PI. xxxviii, sec. B), but 
all other developments in Arkansas and northwestern Mississippi, 
as at Wilmer and Pine Bluff, Ark. (410-415), and Indianola, 
Ittabena (1022), Greenwood (1018, 1020, 1021), O'Reilly 
(1005), Cleveland (1003-1004), Tchula (1012-1015) and Yazoo 
City, Miss. (1048), have yielded potable water. 

Availability. — In the area which is underlain by the Sabine 
and the corresponding undifferentiated Eocene horizons (PI. xl) 
these water-bearing sands may, in general, be said to be available 
at any point. Wells at Waldo (141) and near Bearden (628), 
while both developing water at the proper depths, are regarded 
as failures, the first because the supply did not seem sufficient 
and the second because the sand was so very fine that it easily 
passed through the strainers. The water was, moreover, very 
alkaline. It is felt, however, because of the great irregularity of 
the Eocene beds that these occurrences are essentially local and do 
not prove that a good well could not be developed at the same 
horizon 10 or 20 miles away. The only factor greatly restricting 
the development of these horizons is that imposed by the quality 
of the water in the areas near the domes. 

WATER-BEARING VALUE OF CLAIBORNE (LOWER) FORMATION 

In central Louisiana the fossiliferous Claiborne is a calcareous 
clay having no water-bearing value. To the north, however, it 
merges into lignitiferous sands and clays, and occasionally water- 
bearing strata are developed, as at Ruston and Arcadia, La. (PI 
XXXVIII, sec. i). Along Mississippi River in Arkansas and 
Mississippi occasional horizons are developed in the undiffer- 
entiated Eocene in bedtj which are the stratigraphic equivalents 
of this part of the Claiborne (PI. xxxviii, sees. A, H), but the 
more important and persistent horizons are in the overlying Cock- 
field, which is of Claiborne age, though separated in central 
Louisiana because of lithologic differences. 

327 



8o Gkol. Surv. L,a. Report of 1905 [bui^i,. 4 

In the regions marked fossiliferous Claiborne on the geologic 
map (PI. xxvii) it will generally be advisable to continue wells to 
the Sabine water sands. 



COCKFIELD WATER SANDS 

In central Ivouisiana the basal layers of the Cockfield member 
of the Claiborne are sandy, and where penetrated, except at Delhi, 
La., and Vicksburg, Miss., have yielded water (PI. xli). As a 
rule, the water in the deeper wells, as at Leland (855), Rochelle 
(881), OUa (856-857), Tullos (861), and Colfax (877), is impotable, 
though an exception is to be noted in the case of the deep well at 
Robinsons Ferry, on Sabine River (1120), in which a soft, pleas- 
ant-tasting water is reported at a depth of 1,010 to i, 030 feet. 
Near the outcrop successful wells have been finished at Clarks 
(PI. XXXVIII, sec. B) and at Weavers Spur (PI. xxxviii, sec. E), 
and a successful well could doubtless be finished at Montrose, 
Natchitoches Parish, by going about 100 feet deeper than the well 
abandoned (PI. xxxviii, sec. E). 

In southern Arkansas and Mississippi, north of the Red River- 
Alabama Landing fault, a water horizon in the upper part of the 
undifferentiated Eocene, in about the same stratigraphic position 
as the basal Cockfield horizon, is very widely and extensively 
developed (Pis. xxxviii, sees. A, B, G, H, K; xi,i). Between 
it and the base of the Jackson a number of water sands have been 
developed in different wells, but they show little regularity, and 
the better wells have almost without exception been finished in 
the main horizon. 

Pressure. — The outcrops of the Cockfield and corresponding 
undifferentiated Eocene water sands in Arkansas and Louisiana 
are all relatively low, and the water will generally not rise much 
over 100 feet above sea level, except in elevated regions where 
the head is dependent on the local height of the ground-water 
table. Flowing wells from this horizon will be obtained along 
the main stream channels in central Louisiana (PI. xli). In 
Arkansas and northwestern Mississippi the artesian area is near 
the eastern side of the flood plain, where a relatively higher head 
is possible because of the greater average height of the Mississippi 
hill lands. Water from these horizons will rise very near the 

328 



LA^ CrROt. SlI 



Report of Tqos, BULI,. 4. Pl, XLI. 



MAP OF 

COCKFIELD ARTESIAN 
RESERVOIR 

IN NORTHERN LOUISIANA 
BY 




Large Figures give depths of base of formation below 5ea level. SM4LL Figures show total depth of wells or depth of water-beai ing sti 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 8i 

surface over all the flood plain, but in Arkansas it is regarded as 
quite improbable that flowing wells will be obtained. 

Quality. — In central Louisiana the water of this horizon is 
generally impotable except near the outcrop. West of Red River, 
as indicated by the Robinsons Ferry well (1120), water of good 
quality may be expected much deeper in the embed. Indeed, it 
is believed that in the section west of Red River the quality of 
the deep water will generally be better in this horizon than in the 
underlying Sabine. 

In southern Arkansas and northwestern Mississippi no impot- 
able water has been reported at this horizon in any wells except 
at Crossett, Ark. (6). As a rule the water from the basal layers 
is soft and more or less alkaline. At Empire (26) the water is so 
alkaline that it can not be used in boilers; but at Blissville (145), 
Greenville (1039), Arkansas City (143). Monticello (148-150), and 
Wilmer (153) good boiler water has been obtained. The water 
from the beds just below the Jackson, as at Warren (14-19), is 
generally hard, and better water can be obtained by deepening 
the wells. 

Availability . — The water sands of the basal Cockfield are 
relatively very persistent. They may be confidently expected in 
eastern Arkansas and northwestern Mississippi at depths not 
greatly exceeding those indicated on PI. xli. Failures have 
been relatively few, those at Rison (133) and Thornton (23) being 
the most noteworthy; but these are entirely surrounded by suc- 
cessful wells and so represent only local variations. The area 
affected by the impotable sulphur water encountered in this hori- 
zon in the Crossett well (6, PI. xxxviii, sec. B,) is probably not 
large, as is indicated by successful wells at Warren (19), Monticello 
(148-150), Dermott (24), Blissville (145), and Greenville (1039). 

In Louisiana the development of this horizon is probably limited 
to wells near the outcrop and west of Ouachita River (Pis. xxvii, 
xli). On Sabine River the dip of the strata will make the depth 
prohibitive at any great distance from the outcrop. Between 
Red and Ouachita Rivers development is restricted by the mineral 
water in the embed, and east of Ouachita River the absence of 
this horizon in the Delhi and Vicksburg wells suggests that it is 
of minor importance in that section. 

329 



82 Gkol. Surv. La. " Report of 1905 [buli.. 4 

ougqcene horizons 

CATAHOULA WATER SANDS 

The sand and sandstone beds occurring through the Catahoula 
formation form a very important group of horizons which have 
been developed in central Louisiana at Ferriday, Harrisonburg, 
Pollock, Alexandria, Boyce, and Zimmerman (Pis. xxxviii, sees. 
A, B, C, E; XLii). 

Pressure. — The head in the Catahoula sand, except possibly in 
the unexplored region in Vernon Parish, is seldom over 100 feet 
above sea level. Flowing wells may be developed in the flood 
plain southeast of the high hills in Catahoula Parish and along 
Little, Red, and Sabine Rivers (PI. xlii). 

Quality. — In central Louisiana the water is commonly soft and 
slightly alkaline and is, perhaps, the best of the Tertiary waters. 
In the basal layers, however, the water is in two cases salty — at 
Boyce (943) and at Ferriday (867). Whether these occurrences 
are due to soluble salts in the strata themselves or to brine which 
has leaked from near-by Cretaceous domes is not known, but it is 
probably the latter. 

Availability. — Successful wells may be expected in most of the 
regions south of the Catahoula outcrop (PI. xlii), and wells 
should not be abandoned until they have reached the depth 
indicated. Thus the Pickering well (981) is believed to have 
been a failure because it did not go deep enough; the chances of 
developing a successful well at that point at a depth of 1,200 feet 
or less below sea level are regarded as extremely good. 

WATERS IN THE SURFICIAL SANDS AND GRAVELS 

LAFAYETTE AND PORT HUDSON 

The irregular beds of late Tertiary and Quaternary sands and 
gravels which cover the older Tertiary and Cretaceous beds 
throughout this region are of varying value as water carriers. 
As a rule, however, the surficial deposits are in the hills of 
relatively limited and local importance, while under the large 
river valleys and portions of the accompanying terraces they con- 
tain very large supplies. 

The deposits in the hill lands often produce perched water 
tables (p. 73), which supply domestic wells and sometimes springs. 

330 



Repokt of 1905, Bull. 4, Pl. xlii. 




Large Figores gives depths of formation below sea level. S-mall Figurhs snow total depth of wells or depth of water-bearing strata. 



vEATCH] Underground Water of Northern La. 83 

This suppl}^ is generally small and readily exhausted, and the 
most successful wells and the larger springs depend on the sandy 
Tertiary and Cretaceous beds rather than on these surficial 
deposits. 

Along the main river valleys, however, where these sands and 
gravels were concentrated in early Quaternary and Port Hudson 
time, large quantities of water can generally be obtained. In the 
flood plains limited supplies can be obtained from driven wells 
(p. 91) of no great depth, but where large supplies are needed 
wells should be pushed to the main gravel beds which overlie the 
older Tertiary and Cretaceous strata. These can be reached at 
depths of from 75 to 150 feet. 

Pressure. — The water head of these beds varies directly with 
the topography and the height of the water in the adjoining 
waterways. Flowing wells are not to be expected, but the water 
in the bottom lands will in all cases rise relatively near the sur- 
face and, because of the large supply and the coarseness of the 
water-bearing beds, will not be lowered readily by pumping. 

Quality. — Where large supplies can be obtained the water is 
mineral in character; in regions where the older deposits are 
very calcareous, as in the greater part of the Cretaceous and parts 
of the Claiborne and Jackson beds, the water is of very little value, 
but where the underlying beds contain less mineral matter the 
water is of better quality and affords the most available supply 
over wide areas. In general the mineral content is higher in the 
water from these gravels than in the neighboring surface streams, 
but the percentage of sediment is much less. 

MINERAL SPRINGS AND MINERAL WATERS 
The rain water in passing through the ground tends to dissolve 
a portion of the soluble salts contained in the strata through which 
it passes. Thus all spring and well waters contain a greater or 
less amount of mineral matter in solution. Sometimes the dis- 
solved minerals have a medicinal value, or the water is of so great 
relative purity that its use is recommended and the springs or 
wells are developed commercially. 

Throughout Louisiana and the Coastal Plain of southern 
Arkansas there are many "mineral" springs and wells. Some 

331 






84 GeoIv. Surv. lyA. ' Report of 1905 [bui,i,. 4 

contain a very great amount of mineral matter in solution, and 
such waters should be used with great caution and only on the 
prescription of a competent physician. The water from all these 
springs is of local origin. It represents rain water which has 
fallen within a mile, or at most four or five miles, of the spring, 
and the greatest care must therefore be taken to see that the 
water is not polluted with harmful organic waste. Springs in 
large towns or other places so situated that they may receive 
either directly or indirectly the drainage of houses, barns, and 
outhouses should be carefully avoided, for if not polluted they 
are likely to be polluted at any time. In general, water from 
springs in any town or community of some size in this region is 
to be regarded with suspicion. 

At several points in northern lyouisiana and in the Coastal 
Plain of southern Arkansas attempts have been made to develop 
the spring waters. From many springs the waters are used 
locally and in a few cases, notably that of the Arkansas L,ithia 
Spring near Hope, water has been shipped for some distance. 
The yield of the Coastal Plain springs is usually quite small, and 
this has been an important factor in restricting their development. 
Indeed, it is felt that if any large mineral water developments 
are to be made in the Coastal Plain portion of this section, they 
will have to depend on well rather than spring waters. 

The following table shows some of the springs which have 
been partially developed, arranged alphabetically by counties: 



332 



I /_\. 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 85 

Partial list of mineral spiings in the Coastal Plain strata, of noithern 

Louisiana 



N0.6 



County. 



771 Bienville. 

772 do. . .. 

814 Caddo 



....do 

Catahoula. 
....do 



863 Claiborne. . . 

871A Ue Soto 

S8S Lincoln 

900 Natchitoches 
912 JMatchitoches 



913 
914 
915 
Q16 
958 
972 



... do 

....do 

....do 

....do 

Red Kiver 
Sabine 



....do. .., 
9S2I Webster 
.do... 



984 A do . 

994 Winn. 

995 ....do. 



Location and name. 



Characterof 
water. 



Kings Salt Work.s, Salt Springs Brine 
Rayburn Salt Works, Salt Spring ....do 
Shreveport, Currie Springs ] Soft. . 



Shreveport, Mineral Wells 

Tullo.K, Bayovi Castor Salt Spring; Saline 
White Sulphur Springs ' 



Iron , 



Lisbon, 6 miles east of ' 

Grand Cane Mineral Springs. . . I 

Ruston, Louisiaaa Chautauqua. Iron. 

Allen I ... .do 

Natchitoches, Fourth of Tuly 

Spring 

Natchitoches, Iron Springs 

Natchitoches, Breazeale Springs 
Natchitoches, Sulphur Springs. 

Sans Souci 

Coushatta, lo miles east of 

Pleasant Hill, Ferrell's Mineral 

Spring 

Negreet Salt Springs 

Bisteneau Salt Works 

Dubberly, Valentine Springs. . . 



Saline. 



Brine 

....do 

Sulphureted 



Minden, Long Springs Iron . , 

Drakes Salt Works, Salt Springs Brine . 
Prices Salt Works, Salt Springs.; ... .do , 



Sold locally for drinking 
purposes. 

Sold locally for medici- 
nal purposes. 

Local resort, largely pat- 
ronized before the war. 

Local resort. 

Local resort, with im- 
provements 



Local resort, 



Lccal resort, with small 
improvements. 



Noted locality for medi- 
cinal purposes. 
Local resort. 



6 See chapter V. 

HYGIENIC VALUE OF DEEP-WELL WATERS OF NORTHERN LOUISIANA AND 
SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 

The relatively porous character of the Tertiary beds in north- 
ern lyOuisiana and southern Arkansas and the irregularity of 
these beds render surface wells particularly liable to pollution. 
Even in thinly-settled regions the domestic wells are always near 
the house and barns and the drainage from the barn lot and out- 
houses goes more or less directly into them. It is extremely 
essential in shallow wells that there be an impervious cover to 
divert this refuse, and from the very nature of most of the shal- 
low wells in this region such a covering is seldom present. When 
the houses are in groups, as in towns and villages, the danger 
increases at a very rapid rate. As a rule deep- well waters, where 
the mineral content is not excessive, are much to be preferred to 
water from shallow surface wells. An exact quantitative state- 
ment of the relative value is particularly difficult because of the 
impossibility of obtaining complete information. However, in 

333 



* 



86 G:eoL. SuRV. La. Report of 1905 [bull. 4 

order to obtain some idea of the effect of the use of deep-well 
waters a circular letter was sent to persons at points where deep 
wells had been used for some time. This letter asked the follow- 
ing questions: " What was the relative amount of sickness before 
and after the use of deep-well water ? In your town how does 
the general health of the people who use deep- well water com- 
pare with that of those who do not ? How does the general 
health of your community compare with other places similarly 
situated, but where the people use shallow-well water?" 

Definite replies to this letter were received from Pine Bluff, 
Ark., and Ruston, Spring Hill, Zimmerman and Boyce, La. 

Pine Bluff, Ark. — The data at this point refer to the effect of the 
water from wells 800 to 900 feet deep, supplied by the Sabine 
water sand (PI. xxxviii, sec. B), on the employees of the, St. 
Louis Southwestern Railway in the Pine Bluff shops. Previous to 
the sinking of the wells in 1897 and 1899 (410,411) the water supply 
was from shallow wells. Mr. R. M. Galbraith, formerly general 
master mechanic of the Pine Bluff shops and now president of 
the Cotton Belt Trust and Savings Company at Pine Bluff, made 
the following statement in October, 1902: 

Before the deep wells were completed 40 to 50 of the 437 men employed 
in the shop were on the sick list during the summer. After the deep-well 
water was used there was practically none on the sick list. 

Ruston, La. — City water works were installed in this place in 
1900- 1901. The supply is from a well (890) 425 feet deep, which 
obtains its supply from the Sabine sands and from a thin bed in 
the lower Claiborne (PI. xxxviii, sees. C, 1). Dr. R. P". Harrell 
reports under date of November 17, 1902: 

There has been a very noticeable decrease in the nnmber of cases of 
malarial sickness where the people confine themselves to the use of 
hydrant water. Of the 3,500 people in Ruston it is estimated that 945 are 
using deep- well water. We had 51 cases of typhoid fever here this year, 
and not one has occurred in families where the people have used deep-well 
wateV altogether. 

Spring Hill, La. — The supply here is from the Sabine sands from 
a depth of 228 to 270 feet (989). The local manager of the Pine 
Woods Lumber Company writes: 

The general health of our people has been immensely improved since we 
have used the deep-well water entirely for drinking purposes in the mills. 
If we could compel our employees to universally use it we could further 

334 



veatchJ Underground Water of Northern L,a. 87 

decrease the sickness. The percentage of sickness here is much less than 
in the surrounding camps and farms. 

Zimmerman, La. — Drinking water for the large mill at this 
point is supplied by a flowing well 175 feet deep, which is sup- 
plied by one of the Catahoula sands (956). The mill is situated 
on an old cut-off lake of Red River into which the sawdust and 
waste is dumped, and on the whole the conditions are not very 
inviting. Mr, J. A. Bentley, president of the J. A. Bentley 
Lumber Company, which operates this mill, reported November 
10, 1902: 

Before we had the artesian well the sickness among our people at Zim- 
merman was quite discouraging, but since we have put in the well chills and 
fevers have almost entirely disappeared. The comparative amount of sick- 
ness before the well was put down was ten sick to one now. 

Dr. J. H. Reagan, resident physician for the Bentley Lumber 
Company, both before and after the well was sunk, reports: 

Before the well was put down malaria was very prevalent. There was 
much more sickness in Zimmerman than in the high pine-covered hills to 
the south. After the well was put down we had at least 30 or 40 per cent 
less sickness than previously. I had no typhoid and very few cases of con- 
tinual fever among the people at Zimmerman; and almost my entire prac- 
tice was in the neighboring hill region, where the people depended on 
surface water. My conversation with neighboring physicians and people 
from adjoining towns elicited the fact that much fever existed when Zim- 
merman was comparatively immune. 

Boyce, La. — The water for the town and shops of the Texas 
and Pacific Railway at this point is supplied from a number of 
artesian wells (942-946), generally about 300 feet deep, which 
obtain their supply from the Catahoula beds (PI. xxxviii, sec. 
C). Mr. H. A. Boyce reports regarding this locality: 

To my certain knowledge the health of Boyce has been greatly benefited 
by the use of artesian water. Referring your letter to our two physicians, 
Doctor Sewell and Doctor Texada, both stated the same. They have been 
practicing here only since the wells were bored, but from information from 
former physicians have no hesitancy in saying that sickness has decreased 
at least 50 per cent. Formerly" there was considerable typhoid fever; now 
there is rarely a case. Doctor Sewell, who has been here three years, says 
he has had four cases of typhoid fever in Boyce during that time. All four 
cases were in one family, who used only cistern water. Doctor Texada, 
who has been here about the same time, has had three cases — two at a house 
where cistern water was used; not certain about the other. They both agree 
that while there has been very little sickness in Boyce this year, and no 

335 



88 GkoIv. Surv. IvA. Report of 1905 [bull. 4 

typhoid fever, there has been considerable sickness, and many cases of 
typhoid fever in the surrounding country where cistern and surface waters 
are used. They attribute the health of the town to the use of artesian water 
for sanitary regulations are no better now than formerly. There has been 
no sickness among railroad employees this year. 



HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT 

The pioneer development of the deep-well waters in northern 
lyouisiana and southern Arkansas was in the Cretaceous region 
of southwestern Arkansas. Here in the fertile black lands there 
was no other available supply and the geologic conditions were 
such that deep wells could be easily and cheaply sunk. Many 
such wells were completed before the war, and since that time 
necessity and low cost have combined to make the development 
very active. 

In the Tertiary region, on the other hand, where water could 
generally be obtained in shallow wells at any point, the necessity 
of developing the deep supply was not evident. Moreover, the 
difficulty of sinking such wells was greater than in the Creta- 
ceous region and the cost therefore higher. In the Tertiary hill 
country the low value of the land and the absence of large indus- 
tries prohibited very great expenditures for wells, and in the 
alluvial regions, where land values were higher, abundant water 
supplies could be obtained from the Port Hudson sands and 
gravels at depths ranging from a few to 150 feet (p. 82). Within 
the last fifteen years, however, many factors have combined to 
change this condition. The wealth of the country, which has 
been slowly accumulating since the civil war, has become suffi- 
cient to justify expenditures for deep wells at plantations and 
cotton gins in many widely separated places; ice factories have 
been established at many points; and compresses, cotton-oil 
mills, and cotton factories requiring large quantities of water 
have been erected. In the towns the rapid development has 
increased the fire risk and started the demand for waterworks, 
and the education of the people regarding the relation of water 
and drainage to health has aroused a demand for pure water. 
Of the waterworks thus far established, five in northern Louis- 
iana and six in southern Arkansas depend entirely on under- 
ground water, and one in northern Louisiana and two in south- 

336 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La.. 89 

ern Arkansas depend in part on underground water, as shown in 
the table below. Finally, with the great extension of the rail- 
roads, the rapid exhaustion of white-pine lumber in the North- 
ern States, and the greater demand for building materials from 
all sources, large mills have been erected at many points through- 
out this region. These mills, demanding an abundant and 
steady water supply, have been a most important factor in the 
development of the deep-well waters in the Tertiary beds of 
Louisiana and Arkansas. 

Waterworks of northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas, 1904 



Num- 
ber of 

well.7 


Name of town. 


Ownership. 


Source of supply. 


934-935 
948 
988 
923 

' " " 890 




Municipal 

, . . do 


Deep wells. 




Minden, I.a 

Monroe, La 

Natchitoches, La 

Ruston, La 

Shreveport, La 

West Monroe, La 

Arkadelphia, Ark 

Camden, Ark 

Derraott, Ark 

Hope, Ark 

Hot Springs, Ark 

Little Rock, Art 

Monticello, Ark 

Pine Bluff, Ark 


....do 

....do 

....do 

do 

Private 

Municipal 

do 


Deep wells. 

Ouachita River ; deep wells. 
Springs. 
Deep wells 

Cypress and Crow bayous. 
Ouachita River, 
do 




do 


do. 


24 
321-322 


....do 

do 


Deep well, 
do. 


....do 


Springs and surface water. 






148 


Municipal 


Deep wells. 
do. 


580 
478-479 


Prescott. Ark 


Municipal 

Private 


do. 
Shallow wells and surface water. 







7 These numbers correspond to those used in Chapter V, where additional data will be 
found. 



337 



CHAPTER III 

METHODS AND COST OF WELIv MAKING 

METHODS 

In wells of small diameter the three following processes are 
employed to break the material into pieces small enough to be 
readily removed from the hole: (i) Grinding or cutting with a 
rotary motion, (2) pounding or shattering by percussion, (3) 
washing or separating the particles by means of water currents. 
The first is illustrated in the well auger and diamond drill which 
cut or abrade by the rotary motion of a harder on a softer ma- 
terial. The second is illustrated in the cable rig, or common drop 
drill, which in its essential features is but a very heavy bar drill, 
with suitable appliances for lifting, which pounds and shatters 
the rock into pieces. In many applications of the grinding and 
pounding processes, which are used in varying combinations, 
water under pressure is an important accessory, and in the jet- 
ting and rotary process, used in unconsolidated sands and clays, it 
is of greater importance as an abrading agent than the ot her two. 

After the material is loosened it is necessary to remove it before 
the drilling can proceed, and it is in the removal or disposition of 
this material that the different methods of well making show the 
sharpest distinctions. On this basis wells may be divided as 
follows: 

A. Material from well hole not elevated to the surface. 

I. Removal automatic, 
a. Driven wells. 

B. Material from well hole elevated to the surface. 

I. Removal involving a cessation of the drilling or boring. 

a. Dug wells. 

b. Wells made with a dirt or clay auger ("bored wells "). 

c. Wells made with a well punch ( " punched wells " ). 

d. Wells made with a simple percussion drill and sand pump (cable 

II. Removal automatic, without a cessation of the drilling or boring, 
a. Well made with " self -cleaning " drills,^ or automatic sand- 
pumping outfit. 



^Sometimes improperly called "hydraulic process." It is no more a 
hydraulic process than is the cable rig, from which it differs essentially' onl3' 
in the automatic removal of the drillings. 

338 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 91 

b. Wells made by hydraulic process. 

1. Jet process. 

2. Rotary process. 

III. Removal only in part automatic- 
8. Wells made with core drills. 

1. Diamond drills. 

2. Chilled-shot drills. 

3. Hollow steel bit coring machines. 



DRIVEN WELLS 

In regions of unconsolidated strata, where the ground water is 
relatively near the surface (within the suction limit, or about 30 
feet) and the water-bearing beds are relatively coarse, the cheap- 
est and simplest method of obtaining a small water supply is 
by placing a strainer on a piece of pipe of the same size and driv- 
ing it into the ground with a sledge or maul. Kxtra pieces of 
pipe are added after the first length is driven into the ground, 
and the well is thus made the desired depth. Unless the depth 
at which the best water supply can be obtained is already known, 
tests are made from time to time by screwing a small suction or 
" pitcher " pump on the top of the casing. When a desirable 
stratum has been located, the well should be pumped continuously 
for some time to free the strainer and remove the finer particles 
from the stratum in the immediate vicinity of the screen and so 
form a natural strainer of greater or less extent about the well 
(fig. 34). This is the commonest type of well in the river-bottom 
lands, but in the hill lands, though it is occasionally used, better 
results can usually be obtained by other methods. 



BORED WELLS 

The principle involved in the carpenter's auger was early 
extended to boring holes in unconsolidated sands and clays, and 
it still remains one of the simplest and cheapest methods of mak- 
ing wells of small diameter and of a few hundred feet depth. 
Various types of augers are employed, some of which are shown 



= A11 drillings are automatically elevated by a water jet in all types of 
core drills, but the removal of the core proper involves a cessation of drilling. 

339 



Q2 Geol. Surv. IvA. Rerort of 1905 [bull. 4 

in PL XLiii, 2, 3, 4, 5. Forms Nos. 2 and 5 are adapted for use in 
clay and Nos. 3 and 4 for sand and sandy clay where it is desira- 
ble to have some sort of containing vessel to hold the cuttings. 
When small bowlders are encountered which can not be taken up 
by the auger, grabs of various kinds are used to remove them 
(see " ram's horn grab," PI. xi,iv, i, 6); but if the bowlders or 
masses of rock are larger than the hole the well must be aban- 
doned or some other form of tools employed. When the rock is 
thin it may be shattered by substituting a bar drill for the auger 
and raising and lowering, as in the cable rig. 

The drill rods are of iron or wood, sometimes square (PI. xijii, 
i), so that wrenches or other suitable turning devices can be 
attached, but more often round, when they are turned by a clamp 
or wrench (PI. xr,v). When the auger is filled with earth it 
is lifted to the surface with a windlass and emptied and the bor- 
ing resumed. Bored wells are in some instances cased with hol- 
low trees, but more commonly with boards, sheet-iron pipe, iron 
casing, or tile of some sort (PI. xi^iii, 7). Of the several forms 
of casing, tile properly put in is perhaps the most ideal. 

Bored wells are found throughout this region. In the Tertiary 
strata they are generally very shallow, but wells 100 to 300 feet 
can be sunk by this method. On Long Island, New York, 
where there is a very gravelly, sandy soil, with irregular clay 
masses, somewhat similar to that in northern lyouisiana and 
southern Arkansas, the well auger is still successfully used in 
making wells to depths of 250 feet, notwithstanding the nearness 
of New York City and the ease with which improved drilling 
tools may be obtained. In that region the cost of wells made 
with the well auger and finished with tile is less than half that 
of wells made with improved tools, and this will probably be the 
cheapest method of developing domestic wells in many parts of 
the Tertiary strata of northern lyouisiana and southern Arkansas. 

ARKANSAS CLAY AUGER 

In the Cretaceous region, where there are thick beds of blue 
clay, which do not cave, experience has developed a clay auger 
radically different from those shown in PL xliii, though some- 
what resembling a "pod auger." With this holes are very easily 

340 



La. Gboi,. Surv. 



RapoRT out 1905, BuLi,. 4, Pi,. XLlll. 







From n. S. Geol. Surv. 

WSH-BORING AND WeH-PuNCHING TOOLS. 

I, Ordinary well-boring outfit. 2. 3, 4, 5, Well-boring augers. 6, iS- inch perforated straight tile, used 
as strained in Elliott tile wells. 7, Self-fastening couplings used on Challenge well-aiiger poles. Note also 
Elliott patent iron shoe. 8, 9, Bowlder Catchers. 10, Well-punch. 



veatchI Underground Water of Noi^thern L,a. 



93 



bored to depths of 300 to 400 feet at a cost of 12^ to 40 cents a 
foot, and holes 700 feet deep have been drilled under favorable 
conditions. 

The auger is 15 feet long' (PI. xliv, 14). It consistsof an auger 



PIVOTED WOODEN ARM 




From U. S. Geol. Surv. 
Fig. 3:. — Method of jumping rock drill in Arkansas well rig. Compare with Pis. XLIV 

and XIvVI. 

barrel 4 feet long, which is made of cast steel and resembles a 3- 
inch pipe sawed vertically in half. This is fastened by a fiat 
piece of iron to a second auger barrel, i^ to 2 feet long; above 
this is a second piece of fiat iron, square at the top and cut with 
threads for fastening to the wooden poles (PI. xliv, 11,17). -^t 
the bottom of the auger barrel, on the right-hand side, is riveted 
a steel cutting edge of the shape shown in PI. xliv, 15. This is 

3 In Plate xliv, this is foreshortened because of the angle at which the 
auger is placed. 

341 



PLATE XLIV 

[From United States Geological Survey] 
TOOLS OF AN ARKANSAS WELL-BORING OUTFIT BELONGING TO MR. G. B. 
HTPP, OF GARLANDVILLB, ARK. 

1. 9-inch "twister," or "ram's horn grab." Used for removing large 

stones and old wooden curbs. 

2. 3X-inch bar drill, with solid iron bar attached ("drill stem"), used in 

drilling through the "water rock." 

3. Wrench for tightening wooden poles. 

4. 5. Stils5n wrenches. 

6. 3^-inch "twister," or "ram's horn grab." Used for removing 

stones, fishing for lost tools, and cleaning out old wells. 

7. Pipe tongs. 

8. Sand pump made of section of iron pipe. Used in removing sandy 

and clayey material which will not hold on the regular clay auger 
(No. 14). 

9. 5-inch reamer or cutting bit for enlarging hole made with No. 14. 

It is used on same guide shown with No. 12. 

10. Taper pin. Used in " fishing" for lost piping. 

11. lo-foot wooden pole. Used just above the clay auger. 

12. 9-inch reamer or cutting bit for enlarging hole. 

13. 9-inch rock drill. 

14. 3^ -inch Arkansas clay auger. 

15. Extra cutting edge or "cutting bit " for 31^-inch Arkansas auger. 

16. Key for holding poles while unscrewing. 

17. Regular 26-foot wooden pole, showing detail -of lower connection. 

1 8. Iron drill rod, sometimes used instead of wooden pole in drilling 

through the " water rock." 



342 



La. Gkol. Surv, 



Kki'ORT ok 1905, lUiLi,. 4, Pl. XLIV. 




Tools of an Arkansas Well-Boring Outfit 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 95 

commonly called the cutting bit and projects inward i}( inches. 
On the opposite side and slightly above is the "auger lip," which 
helps to hold the dirt in the auger barrel when the tools are 
lifted. In operation, the auger is fastened to a short 10 foot pole 
(PI. XLiv, 11) known as the auger pole, and this to the regula- 
tion 26 foot pole. The tools are turned with a clamp, and when 
the bit begins to choke, the tools are lifted and dropped by 
means of a windlass (PL xlv). This operation jumps the dirt 
up in the bit, and so frees the lower end; it is termed "making a 
slip. ' ' If the clay is very dry a little water is added, and with the 
very sticky Cretaceous clay this process can be continued until 
the whole length of the auger is filled with a cylinder of mud. 
This 15 feet of mud represents about 10 feet in depth. Usually, 
however, the auger is filled for only about 10 feet, representing 
7 feet of depth, before lifting the tools. 

When rock is encountered a bar drill is used (PI. xliv, 2). 
This is sometimes attached directly to the wooden poles and 
sometimes to iron poles. The drill shown is fastened to a solid 
piece of iron weighing about 100 pounds, which in a rough way 
corresponds to the drill bar of the regular cable tools (PI. xlvii). 

In the outfit shown in PI. XLVii, 2, the drill is jumped by means 
of an auxiliary wheel on the windlass (fig. 31). The drill rope 
passes through a pulley in a post near the driller and a second 
pulley on a pivoted arm, and is held in the supporting post by a 
wooden wedge. This wedge is removed and redriven when it 
becomes necessary to lengthen the drill rope. 

When sandy layers are encountered, which will not hold in the 
auger, the sand pump is used or enough clay is dumped in the 
hole to make the sand stick together. 

In cases where wells of larger diameter are desired, or where 
it is necessary to enlarge the upper part of the hole for wooden 
casing, the 3 or 3 J^- inch hole made with the Arkansas clay auger 
is enlarged with a reamer (PI. xliv, 10, 12). 

PUNCHED WELLS 
In regions where there are uniform clay beds without rocks or 
bowlders, wells are often made with a well punch. This consists 
of a cylinder of steel or iron one or two feet long split along one 

343 



PLATE XLV 

[From United States Geological Survey] 
WELL-BORING OUTFIT OF MR. G. B. HIPP, OF GARLANDVILLE, ARK. 

Boring with clay auger (PI. xliv, 14) and wooden poles. The drill poles, 
with auger attached, are turned with clamp as shown, and when the 
auger begins to choke it is hfted and dropped by the boy turning back 
on the windlass and letting go. This jumps the dirt up in the bit and 
so frees the lower end. This process is repeated until the bit is full, 
when it is lifted to the surface and emptied. By this method from 7 to 
10 feet can be bored without emptying. 



PLATE XLVI 

[From United States Geological Survey] 

Drilling with iron poles and rock drill. Drill is jumped by means of pivoted 
arm, which is pushed outward and then freed from the cogs on the 
upper wheel of the windlass (fig. 31, p. 93). 



344 



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c iz: I^ B" s 

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S- S ;!1 ■ -"^ 

o ^ n 3* iij 

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:z: 
o 
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-t 


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n 


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o 


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ft 












ft 




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ffl 

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ft 


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ft 

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dl 



La. Geol. Surv. Rktort of 1905 Huti.. 4, Pi,. XLVI. 




From U. S Geol Surv. 

Drilling with Iron Poles and Rock Drill. 
Drill is jumped by means of pivoted arm, which is pushed 
outward and then freed from the cogs on the upper 
wheel of the windlj^ss, which is turned. 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 97 

side and slightly spread (PI. xliii, 8). The lower portion is very 
slightly expanded, sharpened, and tempered into a cutting edge. 
In use it is attached to a rope or wooden poles and lifted and 
dropped in the hole by means of a rope given a few turns around 
a windlass or drum. By this process the material is forced up 
into the bit, slightly springs it, and so is held. When the bit is 
filled it is raised to the surface and emptied. When working in 
very dry clay, water is sometimes added to aid the bit in ' ' picking 
up" the material. Thin sand layers are passed by throwing 
clay into the well and mixing it with the sand until the bit will 
take it up. 

This process is not very extensively used in this region, and is 
not so practicable as the Arkansas clay auger. 



SIMPLE DROP DRILIv OR CABLE RIG 

It was early learned that the raising and dropping on stone of 
a metal bar with a horizontal cutting edge would, if the bar was 
turned slightly with each stroke, produce a circular hole. This 
primitive device in the form of a hand drill bar is used to-day in 
many stone quarries. As applied to well drilling the bar was at 
first attached to the end of a "spring pole" made by firmly 
fastening the small end of a sapling in the ground and fixing a 
support near the base so that it inclined upward at an angle of 
30° or more. The hole was drilled by the " spring of the pole," 
the driller keeping it in motion by pulling down on the drill rope. 
As the hole deepened the rope was paid out and the limit of depth 
was determined by the elasticity of the pole and the ability of the 
men to raise the tools out of the well when it was necessary to 
remove the accumulated drillings with a sand bucket or sand 
pump (PI. XLVii,5,6,). In time the lifting of the tools was done 
by horse power and then by steam; the spring pole was supple- 
mented by a walking beam (PI. XLVii, 3), whose motion depended 
not on its elasticity but on power transmitted from an engine by 
means of a crank shaft. This enabled much heavier tools to be 
jumped, and with improved lifting devices greatly increased the 
possible depth of wells. 

A complete "string of tools" as used in the cable rig, isshowu 

345 



PLATE XLVII 

[From United States Geological Survey] 
CABLE RIG OR DROP-DRILI, OUTFIT 

1. A complete "string of tools" for a cable rig. The auger stem or drill stem is 

used to add weight to the drill and increase its force of impact . The jars 
are composed of two linked pieces of extra-quality steel having a slack 
or endwise motion of 6 to 9 inches (No. 2); they enable a sharp; quick, 
upward blow to be delivered which "jars" the tools loose when they 
become fast. The sinker or sinker bar is used occasionally where the 
well is filled with water to help sink the cable rapidly; unless placed 
between the jars and the bit it adds little or no force or weight to the 
drill. 

2. "Jars" open. 

3. Standard rig arranged for starting the hole or "spudding." The 

"string of tools" is jumped by means of a "jerk line" attached to the 
crank of the band wheel. As the drilling progresses the tools are 1 ow- 
ered by graduall}' unreeling the cable from the. "bull wheel." The 
casing or pipe is "driven in" with driving clamps (No. 7), attached 
as shown. 

4. Temper screw, with cable attached. After the hole has been sunk for 

some depth below the derrick floor the walking beam and temper 
screw are used. The string of tools is jumped by means of the walk- 
ing beam, and the tools are lowered as the drilling progresses by 
means of the temper screw. 

5. 6. Sand pumps or bailers; 5, Common form with steel-flap valve; 6, form 

with dart valve. When the accumulations of the drilling in the 
well impede the progress of the drill, the tool^ are lifted by reeling 
up the cable on the bull wheel and the drillings are removed with 
the sand-pump. The temper screw is then wound up or "elevated," 
the tools lowered, and the drilling resumed. 
7. Driving blocks. 



346 



La. Geot.. Surv. 



Report of 1905, Bui,i.. 4, Pl XLVIl. 




From U. S. Geol. Surv, 



CABtE Rig or Drop-Drill Outfit. 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 99 

in PI. xLVii, I, and the method of operation and construction of 
the derrick is illustrated in PI. xlvii, 3-7. 

For the successful operation of the cable rig, or drop-drill pro- 
cess, it is necessary that the material be relatively hard and brittle, 
and firm enough to stand up without casing. In regions where 
hard rock is at the surface or covered with but a relatively small 
amount of unconsolidated material, which must be penetrated 
with a casing before the drilling of the well proper begins, the 
cable or walking-beam rig is the cheapest and most commonly 
used method of sinking deep wells, but in regions of unconsoli- 
dated strata, such as the Tertiary and Quaternary beds of the 
Atlantic and Gulf States, drilling with cable tools is imprac- 
ticable, and for large wells either the jet or rotary process should 
be used. 

In some of the Cretaceous beds where the material is solid 
enough to stand up without casing the cable rig has been success- 
fully used, as at Texarkana, Ark. (480), but even in this material 
better results can usually be obtained with the rotary process. 
Cable tools were tried at Gurdon, Ark., in the same strata geolog- 
ically as at Texarkana; but here the material caved badly, and 
after two attempts the well was abandoned. It could have been 
finished to the desired depth with the proper rotary outfit. 

AUTOMATIC SAND-PUMPING OUTFIT 

Drilling a well with a cable rig involves two principal opera- 
tions — (i) a pounding up of the rock and (2) a removal of the 
drillings with a sand-pump. A combination of these two opera- 
tions has resulted in a process which is of great value in regions 
of unconsolidated strata where the ordinary cable-rig process can 
not be used with advantage, and which is often more practicable 
than any other for wells of smaller diameter and comparatively 
shallow depths in rock regions. 

The tools may be described, in the aggregate, as a sand-pump 
fitted with a drill having one or two perforations through which 
the drillings can enter the sand-pump barrel, which is composed 
of sections of pipe having a total length slightly greater than the 
depth of the well (PI. xlviii, i). When this "string of tools" is 
"jumped" by a spring pole or walking beam, or other suitable 

347 



lOO 



Gkol. Surv. La. Report of 1905 



[buli.. 4 



device, such as shown in PI. xlviii, 4, 5, the drill loosens the 
material, which, as in the ordinary sand-pump, passes through 
the valve into the drill rods. In drilling in dry material enough 
water must be added to make a rather thin mud of the drillings 
in order to enable them to pass the drill valve. The continuous 
jumping of the tools, pumps the drillings through the drill rods 
without regard to the depth of the well, and finally throws them 
out at the surface. 

The principle which makes the elevation of drillings in this 
manner possible may be briefly explained as follows i"* 

The drill is so shaped that when it falls it tends to compress the 
water and air in the lower part of the hole, and, in properly 
shaped tools, this force is suddenly brought to a culmination by 
a curved surface and thus pops the valve open and allows the 





lU. S. Geol. Sur 



Fig. 32. — A well-shaped self-cleaning 
drill. Shoulder is cii cular and almost 
completely fills the drillhole; blade is 
flat and suddenly curves at the top, 
thus developing the maximum force 
in the space where it is most needed 
to pop open the drill valve. 



Fig. 33. — A badly-shaped self-cleaning 
drill. Shoulder does not fill the hole, 
and drillings rush past the open ng 
without lifting valve with maximum 
force. This is, however, a very good 
shape for a jetting outfit. 



ingress of the water and drillings. In a way it is somewhat anal- 
ogous to the sudden development of pressure in the hydraulic 
ram, by which water is elevated to considerable heights, only 
here the power is developed not by the fall of a column of water, 
but by the gravity drop of a string of tools. 

The theory of action is so intimately connected with the 
efi&ciency of the drill that it may be well to call attention to some 
of the features of a well-made self-cleaning drill. It should be 
circular at the upper end and have a diameter very slightly less 

■•I am indebted to Dr. Arthur L,. Day, physicist, of the United States 
Geological Survey, for suggestions in this matter. 

348 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. loi 

than the width of the cutting edge. The blade should be flat 
and suddenly curve at the top in order to obtain the effect of a 
conical compression in a very short space (compare figs. 32, 33). 
If this curved area were slightly coned toward the opening (not 
so much that large fragments or pebbles would be likely to jam) 
a further increase in force would be gained, and the maximum 
amount of lifting power would be developed with the least 
expenditure of energy. In practice additional valves opening 
upward, called drill rods or blind valves (PI. xlviii, 2, 3), are 
added in the drill stock. They relieve the bottom or drill valve 
of some of the downward thrust of the drillings, and so increase 
the efficiency of the outfit. 

The continuous sand-pumping and the method of drilling and 
driving the casing at the same time, by clamping the drive block 
to the drill rods, make it possible to pass through beds of rela- 
tively caving material which can not be handled with the ordinary 
cable rig. 

The important feature of this rig from a water standpoint, and 
the one which makes it of peculiar utility for sinking water wells 
in the Coastal Plain region, is that it is impossible to pass a 
water-bearing stratum, no matter how small, without being aware 
of its presence. In the jet process it is very easy to pass a water- 
bearing stratum, and with the rotary process, in which very 
muddy water is used that comrconly plasters up any small sand 
beds encountered, the determination of water horizons, unless 
they are very large, is comparatively impossible. 

This type of rig has been used at a number of points, notably 
about Shreveport, and combined with a small jetting outfit it is 
now supplanting the boring outfits in the deep wells in the Cre- 
taceous region. It is peculiarly adapted tor work in the Eocene 
beds, and will doubtless become one of the commonest forms used 
in the development of this section. 

JETTING PROCESS 

In the jetting process the material is loosened and the drillings 
are elevated to the surface by means of water under pressure. 
Its use is entirely restricted to unconsolidated materials. The 
water is conducted into the well by means of pipes of relatively 

349 



PLATE XLVIII 

[From United States Geological Survey] 
AUTOMATIC SAND-PUMPING PROCESS 

1. A "string of tools " for automatic sand-pumping outfit. The drill varies 

somewhat in size, length, and shape, but is characterized by the 
presence of a leather valve which allows the drillings to enter and 
prevents their egress, as in the sand pump (PL xi<vii, 5, 6). The. 
" drill stock" or drill rods are commonly i to i% inch pipe, though 
in wells 3 to 4 inches in diameter a short length of 2 J^ -inch pipe is 
sometimes placed above the drill. 

2, 3. Drill-rod or blind valves : 2, Leather drill-rod valve, with large opening; 

3, metal drill-rod valve, with small opening. One or two drill-rod 
valves are inserted in the drill-rods, the number depending on the 
character of the material being drilled. They distribute the weight 
of the column of drillings along the drill-rods in the downward thrust, 
and allow pumping to continue if anything happens to the drill valve. 

4. Common device for "jumping " or *' churning " the tools. The rope is 
given a few turns around the lifting spool or drum, and the drill pipe 
alternately raised and lowered by tightening and loosening the rope. 
This " churning " drills the hole, as in the cable rig (PI. xi^vii), and 
by means of the valves (i) automatically elevates the drillings through 
the hollow drill-rods. The casing, armed with a driving shoe 
(Pi. XLix, 5), is driven in the hole made by the drill with some form 
of drive weight. This is lifted and dropped in the same manner as 
the drill-rods. Sometimes the drive block is bolted to the drill-rods 
and the whole weight of the tools thus utilized in driving the pipe. 

5 a, b, c. Improved device, used on the " Ohio tubular well-drilling 
machine," for rapidly and regularly lifting the drill-rods. 

6. Automatic sand-pumping, enlarging "paddy " or expansion bit, for use 

in unconsolidated materials. 

7. Automatic sand-pumping, enlarging shoulder bit, for use in rock. 



350 



La. Ghoi, Surv. 



Report of 1905, Bdli,. 4, Pl. XLVIII. 




From U. S. Geol. Surv. 



Automatic Sand-Pumping Process. 



i_i«^i ■ C4v^^^^«jy. 



veatch] Underground Watkr of Northern La. 103 

small diameter, called wash pipes, jet pipes, or drill pipes, and is 
directed downward near the bottom of the well by means of a 
suitable bit (PI. xlix, 3, 4; fig. 33). The drill is turned from 
time to time by means of a clamp or wrench, and so keeps the 
hole true and aids the water in wearing away more resistant 
masses of clay or like substances. When local hardened strata 
are encountered the drill is lifted and dropped, as in the drop drill 
or cable rig and the automatic sand-pump outfit. If there are 
many "shells of rock" which require to be drilled in this manner 
it is often advisable to insert in the drill-rods a blind valve 
(PI. XLViii, 3), upside down, with a spring to keep the valve 
pressed up against the valve seat in order to prevent the drillings 
from entering the drill and choking it when the tools are dropped. 

The casing is usually driven, but in some instances it is possible 
to use a paddy or expansion drill (PI. xlix, 2, 4), which makes 
the hole larger than the casing and enables it to settle of its own 
weight when moved with a pipe wrench from side to side 
(PI. xux, i). 

This process is better suited for drilling wells of large diameter 
than the automatic sand-pumping process, and is admirably 
adapted for use in the unconsolidated materials of the Coastal 
Plain. 

ROTARY PROCESS 
The rotary process is but a development of the jetting process, 
from which it differs mainly in that the more or less irregular 
turning of the drill-rods by hand in the jetting process is here 
replaced by regular and rapid turning by a revolving table or 
rotary moved by machinery. When the character of the material 
is such that the ordinary fishtail bit can be used (PI. l, 3) the 
rotary process is very little different from the jetting process, 
except that the larger machinery, pumps, and derrick commonly 
used in rotary outfits permit larger holes to be drilled. The 
fishtail bit is used when the material does not cave readily and 
when the water pressure and the plastering of the sides with the 
mud in the wash water will make it stand up. Under favorable 
conditions holes may be drilled many hundred feet in this manner 
without casing, the bit then removed, and all the casing 'inserted 
at one time. 

351 



PLATE XLIX 

[From United States Geological Survey] 
JETTING PROCESS 

1. Jetting process. Water enters drill pipe or jetting pipe by hose from 

force pump and emerges from the two holes in the drill as jets directed 
downward or toward the bottom of the well. The drillings loosened 
by the jet and the drill, which is occasionally turned by a clamp or 
wrench, are carried to the surface with the upward current of water 
between the drill pipe and casing. If the hole is not large enough to 
allow the pipe to settle of its own weight when turned with a pipe 
wrench, it is driven with a drive block. Sometimes a solid drive head 
is used on top of the casing, sometimes a drive plate, and sometimes 
only an extra heavy tee or specially constructed drive head or tee. 

2. Paddy or expansion drill in operation. This enables a hole larger than 

the casing pipe to be drilled, and in favorable material makes driving 
unnecessary. 

3. Paddy or expansion drill, closed for lifting or lowering in the hole. 

4. Common jetting drill. This shape, with the attachment of a valve, is 

often used in the automatic sand-pumping outfit, but for the best 
results the shape should be modified. (See p. 100.) 

5. Drive shoe. Tempered steel or iron, with cutting edge, for use on end 

of casing pipe. 

6. A simple jetting outfit. Designed and used by Roy S. Barker in drilling 

test holes on Long Island, New York. In this the drive weight is 
lifted by two men standing on a wooden platform clamped to the 
casing, and the weight of the men aids in sinking the casing. 



352 



La. Gkoi,. Surv. 



Report of 1905, Buli,. 4, Pl, XLIX. 







'^:zni^^^,ji^ L^/^-^ -'^"^ 



From U. S. Geol. Surv. 



Jetting Process. 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 105 

The constant rotation and the high water pressure used enables 
the rotary to be employed in a manner entirely different from any 
other outfit and makes the process peculiarly fitted for penetrating 
very caving, unconsolidated materials. In such instances the 
casing, armed with a toothed cutting shoe (PI. l, 4), is itself 
used for the wash pipe and the water and drillings returned to 
the surface between it and the wall of the hole. In practice the 
wash water is mixed with fine clay, and this very muddy water 
tends to plaster up any sand beds encountered and so prevent any 
loss of water and consequent reduction of head. Constant motion 
and water pressure are required, and in order to facilitate the 
addition of drilling pipe two water swivels are employed. When 
the hole has been drilled to such a depth that the top of the pipe 
is near the revolving table a length of pipe is attached to the 
second water swivel and elevated by means of the lifting drum 
into position for coupling; the rotary is then reversed and the 
first water swivel unscrewed, the new length of pipe is coupled 
on, and the pumps are switched to the hose connected with it. 
This operation with skillful men requires but a few seconds, and 
drilling proceeds with scarcely an interruption. To prevent the 
drenching of the men when the water swivel is unscrewed 
"back-pressure valves" are sometimes inserted between the pipe 
couplings (PI. L, 5)- To guard against accident to the pumps 
and the consequent "sticking" of the pipe, all large outfits have 
two force pumps so connected that should one fail the other can 
be immediately used. Wells are usually started with large casing, 
which is pushed down as far as possible; smaller casing is then 
inserted, and so on to the bottom of the well. The well at 
Galveston, Tex., which is the deepest well ever sunk in uncon- 
solidated materials, has 22-inch casing from o to 60 feet, 15-inch 
from 60 to g28 feet, 12-inch from 928 to 1,500 feet, 9-inch from 
1,500 to 2,363 feet and 5-inch from 2,363 to 3,067 feet. 

This process is by far the quickest method known for sinking 
wells of large diameter in unconsolidated material. Wells over 
1,000 feet deep have in several cases been sunk in less than a 
day and a half. As a means of developing water wells it is not 
entirely satisfactory unless the exact point at which the water- 
bearing beds occur is already known. 

353 



PLATE Iv 

[From United States Geological Survey] 

ROTARY PROCESS 

1. Rotary outfit. Water is forced from pump through water swivel and 

down casing or drill pipe and returns to surface as shown (Nos. 3, 4). 
The pipe, which is armed with a rotary shoe (No. 4) or a fishtail bit 
(No. 3), is constantly rotated by means of a rotary or revolving table 
(No. 2) . The drillings loosened by the water and the drilling bit are 
brought to the surface by the return current outside the drilling pipe 
or casing. 

2. Revolving table, hoisting machinery, and water swivel of Chapman's 

rotary. 

3. Fishtail bit. 

4. Toothed or rotary bit. 

5. Back-pressure valve; occasionally used between couplings to keep drill- 

ings from entering wash pipe and to prevent a "back flow " when the 
water swivel is unscrewed to allow new lengths of pipe to be added. 



354 



La. Gkoi,. Surv. 



Report of 1905, Buti,. 4, Pi,. l. 



m m 




From U. S. Geol. Sur 



Rotary Procsss Machinery. 



:is 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 107 

CORE DRILLS 

In the various types of core drills, all of which are intended 
for use in consolidated material or hard rock, there is a combina- 
tion of a revolving and a hydraulic process. Hollow bits with 
some cutting or abrasive device are revolved by suitable machin- 
ery, and wear out a hole with a core standing in the center 
The drillings are removed by a jet of water, and from time to time 
lengths of the core are broken off and brought to the surface 
either by lifting the drill, which in some cases automatically 
breaks the core and clamps it, or by a separate "core lifter." 

In the diamond drill a hollow bit is used in which eight dia 
monds (either carbons or borts) are inserted — four near the outer 
edge and projecting slightly outward, and four near the inner 
•edge and projecting slightly inward. 

In the chilled-shot drill a hollow wrought-iron shoe is used in 
connection with chilled-steel shot or other loose abrasive. The 
constant rotation causes the shot to wear away the rock. This 
method can not be used in fissured or porous rocks where the 
shot can run out of the drilled hole, nor can it be used on bowl- 
ders or other irregular surfaces surrounded by clay, as the shot 
slide off and become embedded without accomplishing any work. 

The toothed steel bit is similar to the ordinary rotary shoe or 
bit (PI. L, 4). The rotary bit does not yield a good core because 
of the softness of the material worked and the rapid washing 
away of the core by the water current. Indeed, in most work 
the toothed rotary bit is fitted with a central cross-cutting edge 
which prevents the formation of any core whatever. This method 
of coring is well adapted for work in relatively soft, uniform 
rocks. 

On account of the unconsolidated character of the material 
ordinary core drills can seldom be used in the Coastal Plain of 
Arkansas and Louisiana. Exceptional cases are found in the 
hard rocks encountered in some of the Cretaceous domes in north- 
ern Louisiana and in the salt and the sulphur deposits of southern 
Louisiana. In the latter, diamond drills have already been 
used. 



355 



io8 



Geol. Surv. lyA. Report of 1905 



[bulIv. 4 



l-\'-:,--::5mD 



FINISHING A WATER WEIyL 
When the water sand is consolidated or hard enough to stand 
up in the hole, as in some of the Cretaceous beds, the finishing 
of a well offers no very great difl&culty; but where not consoli- 
dated, as in the Tertiary and Quaternary beds, some sort of screen 
must be used. It is on the selection and setting of this screen 
that much of the success of the well depends. The screens com- 
monly used are of two general 
types. One is made of pipe with 
round perforations covered with 
wire, wire gauze, or perforated 
metal gauze of some sort. The 
other is made of brass tubing with 
rows of horizontal slits increas- 
ing in size inward. The latter is 
perhaps the simpler, but is the 
more expensive type. 

After the screen has been 
placed, which in most of the wells 
in this section is done after the 
drilling is completed, it is very 
desirable that the well be pumped 
heavily for several days or until 
the water clears. The point 
of this is to remove the finer 
particles immediately about the 
screen and thus to surround it 
with a natural strainer of coarser particles (fig. 34). During this 
initial cleaning out of the well the pump should not be stopped 
when it commences to draw sand. In many cases where this has 
been done not only has the well not been properly cleaned out or 
finished, but the pump valves and rods have been firmly fastened 
by the rapidly settling sediment and great difficulty has been 
experienced in their removal. In very fine sands, where there 
are no particles coarse enough to form a good natural screen, it 
is often practicable to introduce gravel from the surface and with 
it develop a strainer about the screen. 




From U. S. Geol 
Fig. 34. — Diagram showing natural 
strainer of coarse material formed 
about thescreen by pumping out the 
finer sand. 



356 



vbatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 109 

COST OF DEEP WELLS 

The cost of wells naturally varies with the complexity of the 
tools needed, the skill of the driller, the character of the material 
drilled, the transportation facilities, and the amount of competition. 
If water is guaranteed it varies with the known water probabilities, 
and is always higher, except where the water conditions are 
thoroughly understood, than for a mere hole in the ground. 

In the Cretaceous region of the southwestern Arkansas, where 
the conditions are such that deep-well water is the only supply 
over large areas and where very favorable geologic conditions 
exist, a very ingenious adaptation of the well-boring process has 
been developed. By this method the drillers, who are almost 
without exception local planters, can afford to make 3^ -inch 
wells for from 12^ to 40 cents a foot. When machine rigs of the 
jetting and automatic sand-pumping types were introduced in 
this region, as they have been within the last ten years, the 
"machine men " had to meet the competition of the "hand-tool 
men" and so prices have been kept down. It should be added 
in explanation of these prices that it is usually understood that 
the board for the drillers, and horse feed, will be furnished by 
the persons for whom the well is being drilled, who will also 
furnish the casing. As this is generally made of a few rough 
yellow-pine boards, which can be obtained at a near-by mill, it 
is not a very important item of cost. 

In the Tertiary regions, where water can generally be obtained 
in shallow dug and driven wells, the demand for deep wells has 
not been so great. However, with the rapid development of this 
section in the last fifteen years, large and permanent water sup- 
plies have been demanded for manufacturing purposes and deep 
wells have been put down at many points. The first of these wells 
were put down by well drillers from other sections of the country. 
The cost was necessarily high, and the prices have been pretty 
well maintained to this time. The usual charges range from $1 
to $4 a foot without casing, and while very large compared with 
the cost of wells in the Cretaceous region they are but slightly 
higher than those on I/Ong Island, New York, The develop- 
ment is now largely restricted to wells for mills, ice factories, 
and waterworks, but conditions are very favorable for extensive 

357 



no Geol. Surv. lyA. Report of 1905 [bui,t.. 4 

developments for domestic and plantation purposes. Small jet- 
ting, automatic sand-pumping, and hand-boring outfits^ are well 
adapted for such developments, and for ordinary wells 200 to 400 
feet deep they should almost entirely supplant the larger rigs. 
The following example illustrates the difference in cost: Wells 
put down in Avoyelles Parish 100 to 150 feet deep into the Port 
Hudson gravels by professional well drillers cost $2 to $3 per 
foot. Judge Morrow, of Rapides, Rapides Parish, has put down 
three wells 102 feet deep in the same material with a jetting 
machine at an average cost of 39 cents per foot. 

Statistics regarding the cost of wells in this region are given 
in the following tables, which are based on reports from various 
sources. In some instances it is probable that the total cost 
given does not include the cost of casing, and that the amount 
given under "Average per foot" should be transferred to the 
column "Average per foot without casing." 



5 The bits shown in PI. xi^iv are much better adapted for work in the Ter- 
tiary strata than the speciaHzed clay bit used in the Cretaceous strata (PI. 
XLI, 14)- 



358 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 

Cost of deep wells in the Tertiary a>iJ Quaternary strata in^iiortliern Louisiana. 



LOCATION. 



County. 



Avoyelles 

. . do .. 

. . do . 

. . do . 

. do . 

Bienville 

do . 

Bossier . 

do . 

. .do . 

. . do . 

. . do . 

. do . 

do . 

. . do . 

. . do . 

. . do . 

. . do . 

. do . 

. . do . 

Caddo . 

do . 

do . 

do . 



. do . 

. do . 

. do 
. do . 
. do . 

. . do . 

. . do . 
Claiborne 
Grant. . 
. . do . 
do . 
Jackson . 
. . do . 
do . 

Lincoln . 

do . 
Natchitoche; 
do 



Total 
Depth. 



Bunkie . . 
. . do . . 
. . do . . 
Ma sura . . 
Marksville 
Arcadia . 
. . do . . 
Antrim . 
. . do . . 
AUentown 
Antrim. . 
Benton. . 

. . do . 
.. do . . 
Bolinger . 
Bossier City 

do 

Curtis . . 

Foster . . 
Poole. . . 
Blanchard 

Missionary 

Robson. 
Shreveport 

do 
do 



. do . 
. do . 
. do . 

. do . 

. do . 
Stateline 
Colfax . 
Pollock. 
Rochelle 
Hodge . 
Jonesboro 
Wyatt 

Ruston 

do 

Natchitoche 
Weaver Spur 



Feet. 
125 
158 
140 
no 

540 

535 
286 

233 
1 10 
300 
350 

196 
170 
235 
350 



197 
2 10 
300 

185 

290 

225 

996 

280 
338 



338 
201 
324 

150 
180 
290 
210 
285 

1,103 
910 

'°S5S 
330 
545 
302 

430 

450 
726 
308 



Diam- 
eter. 



6 

6-4 

SK-6 

5-3M 

4 

6 

5 

5 

2^2 

3 

2% 



6-2 

3 

4-2 

3 



4-2 H 
6-4 

6-4 

2M 

4-2j^ 

6-4 
64 
6-4 

2% 
3-2 

'8-'6-4 



6-4-2; 
4-2 



Size and length 
of casing. 



Total. 



Inches. 


Feet. 



















Aver- 
Aver- age per Year 
age I foot, j drilled 
per with- 
foot. out ! 
! casing. 



Not cased. 



2^ 



^% 



286 

233 
no 
275 
225 



170 
80 



70 
98 
100 

ISO 



100 
132 
158 



(?^996 
83 
6q 
96 
60 
82 
76 



69 



80 
900 



330 

534 
302 
200 
230 
450 
160 
124 



$ 250.00 

522.00 

400.00 

500.00 

1,400.00 

1,500.00 



250.00 
1,000.00 



§2.00 
330 
2.86 
4-54 
1-75 
2-77 

4.00 
4.00 
2.27 
3-33 



3 06 



380.00 



f '= 



300.00 
300.00 



392-65 



ijOoo 00 
500.00 



$2.77 

2-75 



2.82 
1.52 
1-43 
1.65 



8.03 
1.79 



(?)i 



( 9,.5o 
( 2. CO 



650.00 
650.00 
650.00 
250.00 

365.00 

2,500.00 
1,700.00 
4,300.00 
1,300.00 
2,500.00 

634.00 

1,800.00 

1,200.00 

1,250.00 

418.90 



'■5o 
2.16 

4.20 
3.61 
2.24 
1. 19 
1.28 
2.26 
1.87 
7-75 
3-94 
4.58 
2.10 

4.19 

2.68 
1.72 
1.36 



* Depth paid for. 

7 Amount paid drillers. 

^ Contract price with certain stipulations as to yield. 

^ First 100 feet, Si 50 per foot : below 100 feet, $2 per foot. 

■ Statement of driller. 

" Contract price for drilling, owners to furnish everything but the dri! 



1901 
1897 
1902 
1902 

1901 

1893 
1896 
1902 



1897 



1897 



1897 
1900 



190 1 
1902 
1901 
1901 

1893 
1 901 

1902 
1902 
1902 
1897 
iqoo 
1899 
1896 

I goo 

' 190 1 

1902 



1901 
1900 



Remarks. 



Jetting machine. 

Automatic s a n d- 
pumping rig. 
do. 
do. 

Automatic s a n d- 
pumping rig. 

do. 

do. 
do. 
do. 
do. 



Rotary Process. 

Automatic s a n d- 
pumping rig. 
do. 



do. 
do. 
do. 

t do. 

do. 
do. 
Rotary outfit . 



Rotary outfit. 
Automatic s a n d- 
pumping rig. 



359 



112 Geoi.. Surv. La. Report of 1905 [bultv. 4 

Cost of deep wells in the Tertiary and Quaternary strata in northern Louisiana — Continued. 



LOCATION. 


Total 
depth. 


|Diam- 
eter. 






COST. 


Year 
drilled 




County. 


Town. 


Size and length 
of casing. 


Total. 


Aver- 
age 

foot. 


Aver- 
age per 
foot, 
with- 
out 
casing. 


Remarks. 




'Monroe. . . 
". . do . . . 

. . do . . 

Boyce . . 

. . do . . . 

Rapides . . 

Zimmerman . 
Lake End . 

Loring . . . 
Plymouth . . 
Randolph. . 
Minden. . . 
Spring Hill. 
Tannehill . . 


Feet. 
360 
385 
375 
302 
279 
102 

175 
287}^ 

704 
521 
206 

3>7 
36S 
270 


Inches. 
3^ 
5 
.s 
8 

^V2 

2 

4 

6 

4 

lV2 

6 
3 
4 


Inches. 
3J4 

5 


Feet. 
360 




$3.00 
3-50 ■ 

3-25 

2.25 
1.80 


,892 
1892 
1901 
I goo 
1899 
1900 

1897 
igoo 

190 1 
1901 
190 1 
1 90 1 
1899 
1902 


Jetting process, 
do. 


. . do . . . 






. . do . . 
Rapides . . 
. . do . . 
. . do . . . 

. . do . . . 
Red River. . 


375 


$ 875.00 

1, 200.00 

400.00 

40.00 

185.00 
1 i-i53o.oo 


I233 
4.00 

1-43 

o.3q 

1.05 
1.84 


do. 
Rotary process. 

Drilled by owner 
with jet machine. 
Drilled by owner. 

Automatic s a n d- 
pumping rig. 

Rotary, 
do. 


35>2 

4 
{ \V2 


180 
102 

175 
85 
So 


. . do . . . 










Union. . . . 
Webster. . . 
. . do. . . . 
Winn. . . . 


zV2 

6 
3 
4 


2-6 

317 
(?)368 

(?J270 


500.00 

1,000.00 

661.85 

500.00 


2.43 
315 

■..85' 





12 Contract price ; well not accepted because of salty water. 



360 



CHAPTER IV 
UNDERGROUND WATER PROSPECTS, BY COUNTIES 

NORTHERN LOUISIANA 
AVOYKLLES PARISH 

Avoyelles Parish is almost wholly dependent for its underground- 
water supply on the sands and gravels of the Port Hudson and 
redeposited Lafayette. These deposits underlie the whole parish 
(Pis. XXXVIII, sec. B), and while in the bottom lauds shallow 
driven wells are nearly always successful, the best water can be 
obtained in the coarser gravels between 65 and 200 feet (756-767). 
This supply is practically inexhaustible ; and while the water is 
hard, a chemical and bacteriological examination by Professor 
Metz, of New Orleans, of the water from this horizon at Eecompte 
(948), where city waterworks are contemplated, has resulted in a 
very favorable report. 

The water-bearing sands developed in the Alexandria wells 
are, on account of the dip, very deep under most of this parish 
(PI. xxxviii, sec. B), and it will generally be inexpedient to try 
to develop them. The deep wells of the Natchez and Marksville 
Oil Company found no important horizon below the upper gravels 
which supply the municipal well at Marksville (767). 

BIENVILLE PARISH 

Throughout all of Bienville Parish, with the exception of 
limited areas immediately surrounding the Cretaceous domes at 
Kings and Rayburns Salt Works (Pis. xxvii ; xxxviii, sees, h, 
I), deep- well water can be obtained in the Sabine sands. The 
lower limit of profitable development ranges from 150 feet below 
sea level in the northeastern part of the parish to about 300 feet 
in the southeastern part (PI. xl). Water sands will generally 
be found above this extreme depth, but in case they are locally 
absent at any point it will not be advisable to go deeper. The 
clays of the Midway and Arkadelphia formations, which underlie 

361 



114 Geol. Surv. La. Report of 1905 [bui.i.. 4 

the Sabine, contain no water, and that of the next horizon, ^hich 
is 600 or 700 feet below the Sabine, is very salty and is the source 
of the brine of the old salt works (PI. xxxviii, sec. E). This 
brine, in many cases, leaks into the Eocene sand beds and renders 
the water impotable. The prospects south of the domes are, 
therefore, not so good as those north. 

The pressure head will vary somewhat with the local topography 
(PI. xxxix), and flowing wells are to be expected only locally 
and in deep valleys near high hill masses. 

BOSSIER PARISH 

The best water in Bossier Parish is obtained from the Sabine 
sands at depths not exceeding 100 to 150 feet below sea level 
(Pis, XXXVIII, sees. D, F, I ; xi,). The many wells in northern 
Bossier Parish have thoroughly demonstrated the possibilities 
there, and the well at Robson (805), in Caddo Parish, shows that 
good results can be expected at least that far down the river. 
Water-bearing sands will be found in the Sabine in the extreme 
south end of the parish at the depths indicated by the wells at 
Curtis, (789) Robson (805), and Frierson (871), but the quality 
can be determined only by drilling. 

The water head in this region varies almost directly with the 
local topography (Pl.xxxix). Flowing wells are therefore not 
to be expected, except locally, and if obtained will probably 
have a short life (778, 779, 784). 

Under the Red River flood plain and the terraces accompanying 
it are considerable gravel deposits which yield abundant supplies 
of water of poor quality. This is the source of most of the water 
used in the bottom lands. In sinking deep wells the common 
practice in this region is to penetrate these gravels with a 3-inch 
casing, which is firmly seated in the underlying blue clay ; a 
hole an inch or two in diameter is then drilled, which is cased 
but a few feet. In general it is felt that it would be better 
to case the wells the entire depth, using a still larger casing 
to penetrate the upper gravels, and to place screens opposite each 
of the water-bearing sands. The greatest care must be taken to 
cut out the water in the surficial gravels, or it will seriously 
impair the quality of the water obtained in the Sabine sands (797). 

362 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 115 

caddo parish 

The principal water-bearing horizons in Caddo Parish are (1) 
the Quaternary, or Port Hudson, gravels and sands, and (2) the 
sands in the Sabine formation (PI. xxxviii, sees. D, E, 1). 

The Quaternary, or Port Hudson, gravels and sands underlie 
the Red River flood plain at depths of 75 to 130 feet (782-785, 
788, 796, 799, 800, 804, 805). They supply the shallow wells in 
this region, and will yield very large amounts when the wells are 
properly finished in the gravels near the base. The water is, 
however, hard, chalybeate, and alkaline, and a better quality can 
usually be obtained in the underlying sands. 

The Sabine formation underlies all of Caddo Parish, except 
possibly a limited region near Sodo Lake, to a depth of 100 to 
150 feet- below sea level. In it there are several sand beds, some 
occurring in fairly well-defined horizons. These beds vary some- 
what in thickness from place to place, but in general may be said 
to be available at any point in the parish. Failures are reported 
at Furrh (802), Uni (835, 836), and Dixie (801), but all of these 
represent essentially local variations. That the Furrh well 
represents only a local absence of the Sabine water sands is shown 
by the successful wells at Shreveport, Blanchard, and Marshall 
(PI. XXXVIII, sec. i). At Uni a sand bed was encountered in the 
proper stratigraphic position (PI, xxxviii, sec. F), but yielded 
no water, though successful wells have been finished all about it. 
The well three miles south of Dixie, at the mouth of Cottonwood 
Bayou (801 ), has apparently struck one of the peculiar Cretaceous 
domes which occur irregularly throughout Louisiana, and which 
yield impotable salt water. To judge from other cases, the area 
affected by this disturbance is not great (p. 18). ' The condi- 
tions everywhere in Caddo Parish warrant sinking wells to depths 
of 100 to 150 feet below sea level, if water is not encountered 
above that point, but it is useless to continue them deeper. 
Below this point are the Midway and Arkadelphia clays, which 
contain no water, and below them is the Nacatoch sand, which 
contains artesian salt water (806, 871). Several deeper wells 
have been drilled throughout the parish, and it is popularly, 
though incorrectly, supposed that good water has been obtained 
at greater depths. At Shreveport there are several water-bearing 



Ii6 



Geol. Surv. L,a. Report of 1905 



[buli.. 4 



Feet 
-Z50 



-ISO 
■zoo 
-zso 



horizons (fig. 35), the best one being about 50 feet below sea 
level. The water head varies almost directly with the local 
topography, and flowing wells are essentially of local occurrence. 
Nearly all the wells in this region are cased only part of the 
way to the bottom. It is believed to be desirable to case them the 
entire distance and to place proper screens opposite each horizon. 






t<5 
^1 






I 
1^ 






il 



loci 



Bossier C/'ty 






■ Cj Jo 



'----^ 



IBS r 



Lignif-e 



■l^'-S^a.'iscreer? 



/ 



laz 

_XL58 



'■ Blach clay 
: No waf-er 



194- 
154 



i^-l 



,_, IBS les les 









,CiN> 





lssn± 

■^Clay 



Heavy black lines show 
posltwn 3iyo' lengl/i of 
casing where known. 

Figures glye elei/at/'ons in 
feet-sbove or be/aw sea /e/e/. 



IQQ Height to which water wlii 
— X — ■ r's e from Ihe Sahine sands. 



145 







157.. 



I— l'*? 
16-14- 



Ljgnife__ 






(J '^ 



no 

-158-" 



S^acA clay 
fJo wafer 



Feet 

250 



Blach clay 
^ No ivafer 



350 
4-00- 



Fig. 35. — Wells in the vicinity of Shreveport, Caddo Parish, La. 



CALDWEIX PARISH 

In Caldwell Parish large water supplies can commonly be 
obtained in the Qaateruary sands and gravels which underlie the 
flood plain. of Ouachita and Boeuf rivers at depths of from 25 to 
100 feet (Pis. XXXVIII, -stc. B.). In the hill hnds shallow wells 

364 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 117 

can be finished at almost any point, though in the southern 
and southeastern parts of the parish, in the region of the calcare- 
ous Jackson clays, the water is verj^ hard and the yield not always 
good. 

Of the deep waters the best results are to be obtained in the 
Sabine water sands. The top of this group will be encountered at 
depths ranging from 200 feet below sea level in the northwestern 
part to 900 feet in the southeastern part. This is the horizon 
developed in the Columbia well (S41), at the depth of 358 to 438 
feet below sea level, and in the many wells about Monroe (PI. 
xxxviir, sec. B). Over all the eastern part of the parish it will 
furnish flowing water. This is the most promising horizon along 
the Iron Mountain Railway south of Columbia ; it will be 
encountered at depths ranging from 400 feet below sea level at 
Columbia to 800 feet at the Caldwell^Catahoula parish line. In 
no case would it be advisable to go much deeper than indicated 
on PI. XL. 

At a distance of 400 to 500 feet above the Sabine water sand is 
the basal Cockfield horizon (PI. xxxviii, sec. B). This may 
be reached by surface wells in the northern part of the parish, 
and by deep wells in the southeastern part. It has been found 
in wells at Clark Spur (838-840), Olla (856-857), Rochelle (881), 
and Leland (855). In all the deeper wells it furnishes impotable 
water, and it is not regarded as a horizon of much economic 
importance. Wells, except those north of the outcrop of the 
Jackson formation (PI. xxvii), must be continued to the Sabine 
sands. 

CATAHOULA PARISH 

The chief underground-water supplies of Catahoula Parish are 
contained in (i) the Quaternary, or Port Hudson, deposits, (2) 
the Catahoula, (3) the Cockfield, and (4) the Sabine formations 
(PI. XXXVIII, sec. B). 

The Port Hudson deposit.^, are best developed in the lowlands 
along Little and Ouachita rivers and south of Catahoula Lake 
and Brushley Bayou (Pis. xxvii ; xxxviii, sec. B). These beds 
contain large supplies and are the ones most commonly developed. 
Shallow driven wells yield sufBcient water for ordinary purposes, 



ii8 Geol. Surv. La. Report of La. [bui:<i.. 4 

and when large supplies are needed they can be obtained in the 
main gravel beds at depths ranging from 50 to 150 feet. 

The Catahoula beds form the high sandy hills northwest of 
Catahoula Lake and Brushley Bayou (PI. xxvii). Here shallow 
wells generally yield good soft water. These sandy beds dip 
regularly southeastward, and are found under the parish south 
of the outcrop at depths less than those shown on PI. xlii. This 
is the natural source for water at Harrisonburg, and in the region 
along and north of Little River and Catahoula Lake, where in 
the lowlands flowing water will probably be obtained. There is 
some probability, as indicated by the Ferriday well, that in the 
extreme southern part of the parish salt water will be encount- 
ered. In the central portion, however, no trouble is anticipated. 
In the neighboring parishes the Catahoula beds supply the water 
at Pollock, Alexandria, Boyce, and Zimmerman. If a well 
does not obtain water in the Catahoula formation, it is believed 
to be inadvisable to sink deeper. 

The next group of water sands occurs about 1,000 feet below 
the Catahoula (PI. xxxviii, sec. B) in the Cockfield formation. 
These have been encountered in wells at Leland, (855) Colfax, 
(871), 011a (856-857), and Rochelle (881), and in all these cases 
have yielded unsatisfactory water. 

Below the basal Cockfield occur the Sabine sands, and in the 
northwestern part of the parish, beyond Bayou Funne Louis 
where the Catahoula sands are not available (Pis. xxvii ; x1.11) 
this is regarded as the most promising horizon. Successful wells 
have been finished in these beds at Columbia and along the Ark- 
ansas Southern Railroad from Winnfield northward (PI. xxxviii, 
sees. B, C). Its upper limit should be encountered at depths 
ranging from 800 feet at 011a to 1,000 feet at Georgetown or 
Rochelle. In no case will it be advisable to go deeper than 1,500 
feet (PI. xl). One unfavorable feature of the outlook here is the 
salt springs on Ba570U Castor. If they represent brine leaking 
from one of the Cretaceous domes, it is possible that even the 
lowest horizon will be impregnated with salty water. In view of 
this, wells are more likely to succeed near the Catahoula Caldwell 
Parish line than farther south. 



366 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 119 

claiborne parish 

The conditions fur deep water supplies in Claiborne Parish are 
very favorable. The Sabine water sands are everywhere avail- 
able at depths not exceeding 200 feet below sea level (PI. xl). 
Should the water sands in any case be locally absent, it is not 
advisable to continue wells deeper ; the underljnng Midway and 
Arkadelphia clays contain no water, and the Nacatoch sand, 
which lies 700 feet below the basal Sabine, furnishes salty water. 
(PI. XXXVIII, sec. C, E, I). The head of the water from the Sa- 
bine sands will vary almost directly with the local topography 
(PI. xxxix), but flowing wells are likely to be developed in the 
bottom lands along Bajou D'Arbonne and Middle Fork. 

CONCORDIA PARISH 

Concordia Parish lies wholly within the flood plain of the Miss- 
issippi, and the usual supply is from the surficial gravel beds 
encountered at depths less than 150 feet. Theseyield very large 
supplies of somewhat chalybeate water suitable for boiler pur- 
poses. 

The deep-well prospects are not very favorable ; of the several 
early Tertiary formations, the Catahoula would be expected to 
yield the best water. In a number of wells at Natchez and 
Vidalia horizons have been developed in the upper part of this 
formation at depths of 300 to 500 feet. These horizons will be 
encountered to the south at depths which will increase about 50 
feet per mile. 

A deep test well put down by the Texas and Pacific Railway 
at Ferriday (866) obtained flowing salt water from the basal Cat- 
ahoula beds at about the same horizon developed in the deepest 
wells at Alexandria (PI. xxxviii, sees. A, B). Below the Cata- 
houla the water sands in the.Cockfield and Sabine probably contain 
highly mineral water at this point, and it is hardly worth while 
to drill to them. 

DE SOTO PARISH 
Although but one deep well has been sunk in De Soto Parish 
(871), the wells in the surrounding parishes and the general 
geologic structure indicate very favorable tonditions. Satisfac- 

367 



120 Geol. Surv. IvA. Rkport of 1905 [bui^i.. 4 

tory water sands may be expected throughout the parish at 
depths ranging from less than 100 feet below sea level in the 
northwestern part to 200 feet in the southeastern part (Pis. 
(xxxviii, sec. F; xi,). The height to which the water will rise 
depends somewhat on the local topography, but throughout the 
parish will commonly be 175 feet above sea level (PI. xxxix). 
At Mansfield it is quite likely that the height will be over 200 
feet. Flowing wells may be expected locally in deep valleys 
flanked by high hills ; the most promising region for such wells 
is the east-central portion of the parish, along the western edge of 
the Red River flood plain and in the very deep valleys tributary 
to it. The water will usually be soft and alkaline and the yield 
abundant. The town of Mansfield should have no difficulty in 
developing a water supply from deep wells. 

In case satisfactory water is not developed at any point at a 
depth less than those given above, it will not be advisable to con- 
tinue the well deeper. Below the basal Sabine sands are the 
clays of the Midway and Arkadelphia formations, and below 
these the Nacatoch sand, which yields artesian salt water at 
Shreveport (806) and Ferriday (871). 

EAST CARROLL PARISH 

The Port Hudson silts, sands, and gravels underlie all of East 
Carroll Parish to depths of from 100 to 150 feet and will yield 
very large supplies of rather chalybeate water. Wells to yield 
the greatest amount should be finished in the gravel beds which 
lie near the base of these surficial deposits (PI. xxxviii, sec. A). 

The Eocene water-bearing sands can be reached at any point 
by drilling to the requisite depth (Pis. xxxviii, sec. A; xl, xli). 
The quality of the water is, however, very uncertain. On the 
one hand, there is a highly mineral water developed in the wells 
at Crossett (6), Delhi (962), and Vicksburg (1,037), which comes 
from the Sabine sands (PL xxxviii, sees. A, B, I). On theother 
hand, there is good water in the wells at Satartia (1,045), Yazoo 
City (1,046-1,049), Greenville (1,039), and Blissville (145). The 
deep well at Lake Providence developed the same horizon found 
in the Empire well (26). Better water might be obtained in the 
Cockfield horizon at an additional depth of 200 or 300 feet (Pi. 

368 



I 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 121 

xxxviii, sec. A). Flowing water would doubtless be obtained 
at this point from the Sabine sands at a depth of about 100 feet 
below sea level. The water from this horizon at Yazoo City is 
good, at Crossett bad, and the quality at Lake Providence can 
be determined only by boring. 

FRANKLIN PARISH 

The most important water-bearing formation in Franklin Par- 
ish is the Port Hudson. This underlies the whole parish, and 
the coarser beds, which can commonly be developed at depths 
ranging from 75 to 150 feet, will furnish very large supplies of 
fairly good boiler water. 

Of the FvOcene horizans, the only one of probable importance 
is the Sabine. The uppermost Sabine horizon, or that encoun- 
tered in the Monroe (921-925), Columbia (841), and Delhi (962) 
wells will be found in this parish at depths ranging from 500 
feet below sea level in the western part to 1,000 feet in the 
southeastern part. It will probably furnish mineral water of a 
character varying from potable water at Monroe and Columbia to 
the impotable water at Delhi. This horizon at Winnsboro will 
be found at 700 to 800 feet below sea level and will perhaps 
furnish feebly flowing water. In no case will it be advisable to 
go deeper than indicated on PI. xl, unless a test well several 
thousand feet deep is contemplated. 

GRANT PARISH 

The principal water-bearing beds underlying Grant Parish are 
(i) the surfical gravels, (2) the Catahoula sands and sandstones, 
(3) the Cockfield sands, and (4) the Sabine sands. 

The Port Hudson gravels are of importance only in the Red 
River flood plain, where they will furnish large supplies at depths 
of from 70 to 130 feet. Less important sands are encountered 
above these basal gravels, in which driven wells can often be fin- 
ished, but for large yields the wells should be completed in the 
lower gravels. Over much of the hill land there are irregular 
deposits of gravel, which supply local wells with very pure 
water. A very important development of this sort is found near 
Sand Spur, where a number of wells have been completed for the 
St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway (882). 

369 



122 Geoi.. Surv. IvA. Report of 1905 [bui.1.. 4 

The Catahoula beds form the high sandy hills in the south- 
eastern part of the parish and wherever developed yield excellent 
water. Several different horizons occur in this group, as shown 
by the wells at Zimmerman, Boyce and Alexandria, and in no 
case will it be advisable to go deeper than shown on PI. xlii. 
Flowing water will be encountered along Red River Valley in the 
southwestern part of the parish 10 miles south of Colfax, and 
along lyittle River. 

The Cockfield member, which outcrops in southern Winn 
Parish (Pis. xxvii, xxxviii, sec. D), contains several horizons 
which are of doubtful value in this parish. The most important 
occurs near the base, or about 1,000 feet below the Catahoula. 
This has been developed at Colfax (877) and at Rochelle (881), 
and in each case has furnished artesian salty water. At Rochelle 
better results may be obtained in the underlying Sabine sands, 
which will be encountered at depths over a thousand feet below 
sea level, but the presence of a Cretaceous dome at Cedar Lick 
and the suggested presence of one at Castor Salt Springs indicate 
that the probabilities are against such a development though po- 
table water has been obtained in this Sabine horizon at Winn- 
field (998). 

The Sabine sands yield very salty water at Luella (906) and 
Natchitoches (909,911), in Natchitoches Parish, and as these are 
believed to be due in large part to salt water from the Cretaceous 
domes no better results can be hoped for in western and southei n 
Grant. On the whole, in Grant Parish surface wells are the only 
source of underground supply, except in the region of the Cata- 
houla formation. 

The chances of getting water at Colfax by going deeper are 
not very promising, except at very great depths. The first Cre- 
taceous sand, the Nacatoch, if it is present in this region, occurs 
about 2,000 feet below the basal Cockfield, or, roughly, 3,000 feet 
from the surface. This yields artesian salt water at Shreveport 
(806) and Frierson (871) and will doubtless yield salt water here. 
In northeastern Texas, about 1,000 feet below this, is the sub- 
Clarksville sand, which will probably also yield salty water (PI. 
XXXVIII, sec. H). One thousand feet deeper are the basal Wood- 
bine horizons, which yield somewhat mineral water. The most 

370 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern L,a. 123 

promising horizons are the Paluxy and Trinity, which, at Cor- 
sicana, Tex., according to Hill,' are, roughly, 500 and 2,400 feet 
below the Woodbine. According to this estimate, which is 
necessaril)^ a very rough one, the Paluxy sand is 5,500 feet below 
the surface at Colfax and the base of the Trinity 7,500 feet. 
The cost of so deep a well would be almost prohibitive, yet it is 
hardly worth while starting to drill at Colfax unless some such 
depth is planned for. 

JACKSON PARISH 

The deep-well propects throughout Jackson Parish are very 
promising. No circumstances are known which would introduce 
unfavorable conditions. Wherever wells have been drilled they 
hav^e yielded satisfactory results, both in this parish, as at Ansley, 
Hodge, Jonesboro, and Wyatt (PI. xxxviii, sec. C), and in 
adj fining parishes, as at Ruston (890,891), Monroe (921,925), 
Columbia (841), Winnfield (998), Taunehill (997), and Pyburn 
(996). (See Pis. XXXVIII, sees. B, C, I; xl). 

The depth of profitable development ranges from nearly 200 
feet below sea level in the western part of the parish to 500 feet 
in the extreme southeastern part. At Vernon a good water- 
bearing stratum will probably be developed at a depth of 100 feet 
below sea level. 

LINCOIvN PARIvSH 

Abundant supplies of water may be expected throughout Lin- 
coln Parish at depths ranging from not over 200 feet below sea 
level in the western part of the parish to 400 feet in the eastern 
part (PI. xl). Several water-bearing horizons will be encount- 
ered above this extreme depth. Where all the sands are locally 
absent, it will not be advisable to go much deeper than indicated. 
The principal horizon developed in the Dubach and Ruston 
wells, and in the adjoining parishes in the Ansley, Arcadia and 
Monroe wells (PI. xxxviii, sees, C, I), occurs at depths 
ranging from 100 feet below sea level in the western part of the 
parish to 200 feet in the eastern part. The Sabine sands will 
furni>h flowing water along Bayou D'Arbonne and Middle Fork 

(PI. XI). 



'Twenty-first Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, igor, pis. 69-71. 

371 



124 Geol. Surv. lyA. Report of 190,5 [bui^Tv. 4 

MADISON PARISH 

Madisou is one of the alluvial parishes, in which the most 
available water supply is in the Port Hudson gravels. These 
extend to depths of over 100 feet (PI. xxxviii, sec. I; wells 892- 
894) and will everywhere furnish large supplies of water suitable 
for boiler use. The deep-well prospects are very unfavorable. 
Artesian water can be obtained throughout the parish from the 
upper Sabine sands at depths ranging from 800 to 1,000 feet below 
sea level, but this, as indicated by the wells at Delhi (962) and 
Vicksburg (1037), is too highly mineral to be of use. There is 
little chance that the deeper water horizons will yield better 
results. According to the best information obtainable the well 
at Delta (893) should have obtained artesian salt water at 1,000 
feet below sea level. The depth reported for this well is believed 
to be rather excessive. 

MOREHOUSE PARISH 

At no place in Morehouse Parish do the Kocene beds outcrop. 
The Port Hudson deposits, with a thin covering of 
alluvium in some places, form the whole surface of the parish and 
underlie it to depths of from 50 to 200 feet. These beds are 
coarser in their lower portions and will furnish very large sup- 
plies of slightly hard, chalybeate water, which is fairly good for 
boiler use (896-899). 

No wells have yet been sunk in this parish below these surficial 
beds, but water may be developed in the underlying Eocene 
sands in all parts of the parish. South of the Alabama Landing 
.fault line (p. 60) water can be developed in the same horizon that 
is found at Monroe and Delhi (Pi. xxxviii, sec. B, I) at depths 
ranging from 200 to 400 feet below sea level in the western part 
of the parish to 700 to 900 feet in the southeastern part. The 
quality of the water will be between that at Monroe (921-924) 
and Delhi (962) and will flow over most of the bottom lands. 
North of the Alabama lyanding fault line the basal Cockfield hori- 
zon will be encountered at depths between 300 to 400 feet below 
sea level. This horizon furnishes sulphur water at Crossett (6) 
and good water at Blissville (145), Dermott (24), and Greenville 
{1039). Its quality in northern Morehouse Parish could be 

372 



veatch] Underground Water or Northern La. 125 

determined only by drilling, but it will probably be mineral. A 
lower horizon can be reached in this portion of the parish at depths 
between 800 and 1,000 feet. This is the stratum which furnishes 
salty water at Crossett (PI. xxxviii, sec. B), and there is no rea- 
son to hope for better results here. 

NATCHITOCHES PARISH 

Natchitoches Parish presents in surface outcrops a very sing- 
ular combination of five of the six most important water-bearing 
formations of northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas; never- 
theless it is a region in which good water can be obtained only 
with difficulty. 

The Port Hudson gravels are well developed under the Red 
River floDdplain, where they extend to depths of about 150 feet. 
When the underlying beds are not calcareous, as in the portion 
of the vallej^ about St. Maurice, the water is a fairly good chaly- 
beate water, but to the south, where the underlying clays belong 
to the calcareous Claiborne and Jackson groups, the water is very 
hard and cisterns are commonly used. 

The Catahoula formation outcrops in the southern part of the 
parish (Pis. in, xliii) and near the Vernon Parish line will be 
available in deep wells. This group of sands has been developed 
in the adjoining parish of Rapides at Zimmerman, Boyce and 
Alexandria (PI. xxxvrri, sec. E). As yet no deep wells have 
been sunk in this formation in Natchitoches Parish. 

The Cockfield member outcrops in a narrow belt in T. 7 N. 
Rs. 8 and 9 W. (PI. xxvii.) It furnishes good water where 
developed at Weaver Spur (giy) near the outcrop, and it is the 
most promising horizon at Montrose, where it will be encountered 
at a depth of about 600 feet (PI. xxxviii, sec. E). This horizon 
dips southeastward and is encountered at a depth of 1,100 feet at 
Colfax, where it furnishes artesian salt water (Pi. xli). 

The underlying Sabine, sands (Pi. xxxviii sec. Ej are of 
value only in the extreme west-central portion of the parish, 
beyond the area of contamination from the salt water that leaks 
from the Cretaceous domes at Drakes, Prices, Rayburns, and 
Kirgs (Pis. Ill, xxxviii, sec E; xli). Near Natchitoches there 
is a layer in the very uppermost part of the Sabine, just below 

373 



126 Geol. Surv. L,a. Report op 1905 [bui^Iv. 4 

the Claiborne, which is of local importance. It outcrops in the 
hills just south of Grande Ecore on Red River, and supplies the 
numerous springs north of Natchitoches, as Camp Salubrity 
Spring, Breazeale Spring, Iron Spring, and Fourth of July 
Spring. It is the horizon developed in the shallow wells at the 
waterworks (gro), and encountered between 98 and 108 feet in 
the normal school well (911). The lower horizons, which are not 
interrupted by Red River (PI. xxxviii, sec. E), yield very salty 
water, which will flow in Red River Valley. These have been 
developed at Luella (906) and Natchitoches (909, 911), and in 
the adjoining Red River Parish at Lake End (960). Only in 
the extreme west-central portion of the parish about Marthaville 
and Robeline are the conditions in the Sabine sands regarded as 
favorable. Here, on account of the high land in northern Sabine 
and De Soto parishes, the direction of deep underflow is toward 
Red River Valley, and the head is so much higher that it prevents 
the inflow of the salt water from the north. Artesian water of 
good quality is reported at Boleyn (901) at a depth of 412 feet, 
and similar developments are to be expected in the same region. 

At Drakes Salt Works, in the northern part of the parish, and 
at the salt works in the adjacent parishes of Winn and Bienville, 
the uppermost water horizon of the Cretaceous series, the Naca- 
toch sand is exposed and furnishes salt water (Pl.xxxviii, sec. 
E). The brine escaping from these domes is, in part, responsible 
for the salinity of the water in the Sabine sands, and the pros- 
pects in northern Natchitoches for good wells in these sands are 
not very favorable; water-bearing beds will, however, be encoun- 
tered at about the depth shown on PI. xxxviii sec. E. 

The poor quality of the deep-well water in the greater part of 
this parish makes it desirable to ascertain what can be found in 
the underlying Cretaceous deposits. At Natchitoches, according 
to the best data at hand, the Nacatoch sand is 1,500 to 2,000 feet 
from the surface. This yields artesian salty water at Shreveport 
(806) and Frierson (871). In northeastern Texas about 1,000 
feet below the Nacatoch is the sub-Clarksville sand, which will 
probably yield salty water. One thousand feet deeper are the 
basal Woodbine horizons (p. 24), which will yield somewhat 
mineral water. The most promising horizons are the Paluxy 

374 



vkatch] UndkrCtROUnd Water of Northkrn La. 127 

and Trinity, which, at Corsicana, Tex., according to Hill,- 
are, roughly, 500 and 2,400 feet below the Woodbine. Accord- 
ing to this estimate, which is necessarily a very rough one, the 
base of the Trinity at Natchitoches is about 6,000 feet from the 
surface, and the Paluxy 4,000 feet. The cost of so deep a well 
would be very great, yet it is hardly worth while starting to drill 
at Natchitoches unless some such depth is planned for. Such a 
deep test well might be undertaken by the cooperation of the 
State, the parish, the town, and the railroads of that section, for 
all would be benefited b}^ the results obtained. 

OUACHITA PARISH 

Ouachita Parish is half hill land and half alluvial land. 
In the hills shallow wells yielding sufficient water for domestic 
and small plantation uses can be finished at almost any point. 
In the bottom lands inexhaustible supplies of slightly hard chaly- 
beate water are to be obtained from the surficial Port Hudson 
gravels, which underlie this section of the parish, at depths, of 
100 to 150 feet. 

The Sabine sands underlie the whole parish and will be encount- 
ered at depths of from 200 to 400 feet below sea level (Pis. xxxviii, 
sec. B, I; xl). In all the alluvial land and in some of the larger 
valleys of the hill land this water will flow. It has been exten- 
sively developed about Monroe (921, 924), where it furnishes a 
soft alkaline water which is extensively used by the industries 
at that place and by the large plantations. The water will pro- 
bably be less mineral in the western portion of the parish than 
in the eastern. 

RAPIDES PARISH 

The principal sources of underground-water supply in Rapides 
Parish are (i) the Port Hudson gravels, (2) the very late Tertiary 
gravels, and (3) the Catahoula formation. 

The Port Hudson gravels are well developed under the Red 
River flood plain and some of the terraces along it (PI. xxxviii, 
sec. B). The coarser beds are reached at depths of 100 to 150 feet 
(937, 940, 947, 948, 952), though shallower wells can often be 

^Twenty-first Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, 1901, pis. 69-71. 

375 



128 Geol. Surv. La. Report of 1905 [bui.i,. 4. 

finished. This horizon yields good boiler water, and the tests at 
Lecompte (948) indicate that it is a very satisfactory quality for 
municipal purposes. Much of the hill land is covered with late 
Tertiary gravels, and in the southern part of the parish these 
are sometimes of sufficient thickness to be of considerable impor- 
tance as sources of water. 

The Catahoula formation is the source of the deep water 
developed at Zimmerman (956), Boyce (942-946) and Alexandria 
(933 — 939; PI- x1.11, sees. B, C). In all the northern part of 
the parish except' in the immediate vicinity of Colfax, where 
they are absent, these beds will furnish the best water obtainable. 
The principal horizons are encountered from 400 to 500 feet 
above the base, and the ordinary depth of wells will be about 
500 feet less than that given on PI. xi,ii, which refers to the 
base of the formation. It will not be advisable in any case to go 
below the Catahoula. Flowing water is to be expected in Red 
River Valley and in the extreme northeastern portion of the par- 
ish about Catahoula Lake. 

RED RIVER PARISH 

In the hill lands of Red River Parish there has as yet been no 
demand for very large water supplies, and surface wells have 
furnished all the water needed. In the more thickly settled re- 
gion, along Red River Valley, large supplies have been easily 
obtained from the Port Hudson sands and gravels, which under- 
lie the whole flood plain and furnish, from the lower, coarser beds,, 
at a depth of about 100 feet, unlimited supplies of hard water 
which is fairly good for boiler use. 

The water-bearing sands of the Sabine, which underlie the 
whole of the parish, have been developed at only one point. Lake 
End (960), where they have yielded salty water. The quality 
of the water in these beds in other portions of the parish can be 
determined only by drilling. In the northeastern and eastern 
portions, in the direction of the Cretaceous domes (PI. xl), they 
are likely to yield salty water; but in the northwestern and west- 
ern portions the chances are somewhat better because, west of 
Red River, the greater head (PI. xxxix, p. 126), will prevent an 
inflow of salty water from the fractured Cretaceous beds brought 

376 



■I 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 129 

up in the domes north of Red River. The Many dome is prob- 
ably not a disturbing factor. Wells near the western side of the 
Valley, or in the steep creek valleys tributary to it, may furnish 
artesian water. 

In developing these beds it is not advisable to go deeper than 
100 to 200 feet below sea level (PI. xl), unless it is planned to 
sink a very deep test well. The prospects along this line have 
been discussed under Natchitoches Parish (p. 125). At Coushatta 
the lower beds will be reached at a depth of about 700 feet less 
than at Natchitoches. 

RICHLAND PARISH 

In Richland Parish, as in the other parishes east of Ouachita 
River, large supplies can be obtained in the surficial and Port 
Hudson deposits, which underlie the whole region. Wells can 
commonly be finished at depths of from 25 to 50 feet, but where 
large supplies are desired it is generally advisable to go to the 
coarse gravels which overlie the older Tertiary beds. These 
beds are commonly encountered at a depth of 100 to 150 feet. 

Artesian water from the Sabine sands may be obtained in any 
part of the parish by going to the requisite depth, which will 
usually be from 400 to 500 feet below sea level in the western and 
southwestern portions of the parish and 700 feet in the extreme 
eastern portion. This horizon is developed at Monroe (92 1 — 924), 
Columbia (841), and Delhi (962; PI. xxxviii, sees. B,I). The 
quality of the water at any point may be roughly predicted by 
its position relative to these three localities. Along Bayou 
Lafourche and Boeuf River, in the west central and south-western 
portions of the parish, the chances are suflBciently goad to war- 
rant sinking deep wells. In no case will it be advisable to go 
below the depths given on PI. xl,, unless a test well 4,000 to 
6,000 feet deep is planned. 

SABINE PARISH 

In Sabine Parish, in the region north of the Cockfield member 
(Pis. XL, XLi), the best water horizons are in the Sabine sands. 
These have been developed at Noble, Zwolle, Plymouth, Loring, 
and Negreet (PI. xxxviii, sec.F). With the possible exception of 

377 



I30 Gb;oi<. Surv. L,a. Report of 1905 [boli.. 4 

the Negreet well, the water obtained iu each of the above cases 
is to be recommended rather then the surface water, which is 
commonly used about the mill towns. It is certainly less likely 
to be contaminated, and the mineral matter does not appear to be 
greater than in other wells where good results have been ob- 
tained. These sand beds vary considerably from point to point, 
but may be said, in general, to be available at any locality. 

Flowing water has been obtained from this group of horizons at 
Boleyn (901), on Bayou Negreet (969), and at Robinsons Ferry 
(1120), and is likely to be developed in deep wells in the north- 
eastern part of the parish and along Sabine River. Peep in the 
embed and south of the Bayou Negreet Salt Springs the water is 
highly mineral, but in the whole southern part of the parish 
where this occurs water can be obtained from the Cock field 
member or in the upper part of the Claiborne. These beds 
cross the parish in a narrow belt just south of Many (PI. xxvii) 
and dip southward. At Robinsons Ferry a soft artesian water 
has been obtained at a depth of 1,010 to 1,030 feet (PI. xxxviii,) 
sec. F). This is regarded as a horizon of probable importance iu 
southern Sabine Parish (PI. xi,i). 



TENSAS PARISH 

This is an alluvial parish in which the best water is obtained 
in the Port Hudson gravels. These are commonly encountered 
at depths varying from 100 to 150 feet, and yield large supplies 
of chalybeate water. No deep wells have been sunk, though the 
conditions are favorable in the area shown on PI. x1.11, in which 
the base of the Catahoula is from o to 500 feet below sea level, 
and in wells not over 400 feet deep along Mississippi River below 
this belt. In the first case it is hoped to develop the lower Cata- 
houla sands found in the Catahoula Shoals and Leland wells (PI. 
xxxviii.sec.B); and in the second to develop the upper Catahoula 
sand found in the Port Gibson and Natchez wells (PI. xxxviii, 
sec. A)which are supplied by a lateral westward flow from the Mis- 
sissippi region. Deep wells in the southern part of the parish as 
indicated by the Ferriday well (866), will probably obtain salt 
Water. - 

378 



v«atch] Underground Water of Northern La. 131 

union parish 
The deep-well prospects are very favorable throughout Union 
Parish. Two successful wells have been developed at Randolph 
(979), and the wells in the adjoining parishes at Dubach (889), 
Ruston (890-891), and about Monroe (921-927) clearly indicate 
the conditions to be expected (Pl.xxxviii, sees. B, C, I). South 
of the Red River- Alabama Landing fault line, water will be en- 
countered at depths ranging from 100 to 300 feet below sea level 
and in no case will it be advisable to go deeper than shown on 
PI. XI., or 200 feet below sea level in the western part of the par- 
ish and 500 feet below in the eastern part. Flowing water is to 
be expected along Bayous D' Arbonne, Cornie, and L'Outre and 
their principal tributaries. At Farmerville the horizon devel- 
oped at Randolph, Dubach, Ruston, and Monroe will be encoun- 
tered at about 200 feet below sea level. North of the fault, 
water can be obtained in the upper Eocene or CockBeld sands at 
0.300 feet below sea level, but it will not be advisable to try to 
develop the lower sands, as the wells at Crosset (6) and Bear- 
den (628) obtained very unsatisfactory water from this horizon 
(PI. XXXVIII, sees. B, C). 

VERNON PARISH 

With the exception of that obtained in the surficial gravels, 
the underground water supply of Vernon Parish is to be obtained 
from the Catahoula beds (p. 128). This formation yields good 
results at Zimmerman, Boyce, and Alexandria, in Rapides Parish, 
and near Rockland, Tex. 

In Vernon Parish but two deep wells have been sunk; that at 
Hawthorn (980) is reported as successful and that at Pickering 
(981) as unsuccessful. It will be seen from the dip shown on PI. 
L that the Pickering well lacked about 100 feet of reaching the 
horizon developed at Hawthorn. Between the Hawthorn horizon 
and the extreme depth shown on PI. xliii several water-bearing 
sands are to be expected which will yield good soft water. In the 
hill lands along the Kansas City Southern Railway water will 
not flow, but on Sabine River below Bayou Toro flowing wells 
are to be expected. It is believed to be inadvisable to go deeper 
than shown on PI. xi.111, as the water in the underlying Cockfield 
and Sabine sands will probably be salty. 

379 



132 Geol. Surv. L,a. Rerort of 1905 [bui<I,. 4 

WEBSTER PARISH 
In Webster Parish, except in the limited area around and south 
of the Cretaceous dome at the Bisteneau Salt Works (Pis. xxxviii, 
sees. C, I; xl), very good water can be obtained from the Sabine 
sands at depths less than 200 feet below sea level. The main 
water horizon, as developed in the wells at Taylor (139-140), 
Spring Hill (989), Cotton Valley (938), Minden (985-987), and 
near Shreveport, is about 100 feet below sea level throughout the 
parish. Above this sand a minor horizon has been developed at 
AUentown (775) and in the ice factory and cotton-oil mill well at 
Minden (98S). The failure at yellow pine is due to the distur- 
bance of the Bisteneau dome, which directly affects only a small 
area. Good water can probably be obtained at Lanesville and 
Dubberly at the depths indicated by the Minden well. 

WEST CARROI.Iv PARISH 

Throughout West Carroll Parish the Port Hudson deposits are 
very near the surface. They form the Bayou Macon hills and in 
the bottom lands are overlain by but a thin covering of alluvium. 
These beds are from 100 to 150 feet thick, and the coarser beds 
near the base will yield very large supplies of somewhat hard 
chalybeate water. 

No wells have as yet been suak below these gravels, but in 
every part of the parish water can be obtained in the underlying 
Eocene beds. South ot the Alabama Landing fault line water 
can be had in the horizon developed at Monroe (921-927), Delhi 
(962), and Vicksburg (1037), at depths between 300 and 500 
feet below sea level (PI. xxxviii, sees. A, B, I). This water 
will probably flow, but, as indicated by the Delhi and Vicksburg 
wells, will be highly mineral. Other horizons may be developed 
for several hundred feet below this one, and will probably also 
yield mineral water. 

North of the fault line the basal Cockfield, or upper Eocene 
water sands, will be encountered at depths between 400 and 500 
feet below sea level. This horizon furnishes sulphur water at 
Crossett (6; PI. xxxvii, sec. B), and good water at Blissville 
(145), Dermott (24), and Greenville (1039; PI. xxxviii, sec. A). 
Its quality in northern West Carroll Parish can be determined 

380 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 133 

only by drilling. Two hnndred feet below tlii.s horizon is that 
developed in the Empire and Lake Providence welLs (PI. xxxviii, 
sec. A). A lower horizon can be reached in this portion of the 
parish at depths between 800 and 1,000 feet. This is the stratum 
which furnishes salty water at Crossett (PI. xxxvii, sec. B), and 
there is little reason to hope for better results here. 

WINN PARISH 

The three important water-bearing formations available in 
Winn Parish are (i) the Nacatoch, (2) the Sabine, and (3) the 
Cockfield. The Nacatoch is commonly from 1,000 to 2,000 
feet below sea level in this region, but is folded up in the Cre- 
taceous domes (PI. xxxviri, sees. C,I). It yields .salty water, 
which, leaking from the fractured and truncated domes, fills the 
Sabine sands to the southwest. 

The Sabine formation, which occurs about 700 feet above the 
Nacatoch, and is from 500 to 900 feet thick, likewise underlies the 
whole parish (PI. xxxviii, sec. C; xli). In the region north and 
east of the domes the sands in this formation yield good fresh 
water, which at Winnfield (998) is artesian. South and south- 
west of the Cretaceous domes these sands are present, but, as 
shown at Luella (906) and Natchitoches (909 — 91 1 ; PI. xxxviii, 
sec. E), they will probably yield salty water, though the exact 
limit of the brine impregnated areas can de determined only b)' 
drilling. 

The Cockfield member outcrops in a belt extending across the 
parish south of St. Maurice and Winnfield (Pis. xxvii, xli). 
Along the outcrop these beds will probably yield potable water 
at depths varying from a few feet at the northern edge to 500 feet 
near the Cockfield-Jackson contact (Pi. xxxviii, sec. C). In the 
embed, as shown at Rochelle 881 and Colfax 871, this horizon will 
yield salty water. 



38 ■ 



134 



G'-Koi,. SuRv. La. Report of 1905 



[BUI,!.. 4 

Wells and springs in 
LOUISIANA 



No. 



1756 
Til 

*758 

*7S9 

760 
761 

762 

*762A 

763 

764 

♦765 

•766 
♦767 



768A 

*76g 
•770 

*77i 
*772 



'774 

775 

*776 

*778 
779 



Location. 



AVOYELLES PARISH' 

Bunkie 

. . . do 



do. 
do. 



do. 



Bunkie, i mile west 

of. 
Cottonpor;. . . . 

Eggbend 

Mansura 



. . do. . 

Marksville. 
. .do. . . 



do. 



BEINVILLK PARISH. 



Arcadia , 



, . . do 

. . do 

Jamestown .... 

Kings Salt Works . 

Rayburns Salt 
Works. 

BOSSIER PARISH. 

Alden Bridge . . . 



. .do. . . 
Allentown , 



Antrim 



Arkana 

Benton 

Benton, i mile north 
of. 



Town- 
ship. 



I S 
I S 



iN 

2N 

2N 
2N 



18 N 

18 N 

18 N 
IS N 

15 N 

IS N 



20 N 

20 N 
18 N 

22 N 



Range. 



3E 

JE 



3E 
3E 

3E 
3E 

4E 

'Ve 



4E 
4E 



4E 
4E 



s w. 

s w . 

5 W , 
8 W . 

8 W . 

5 W . 



13 w 

13 w 
II w 

13 w 



13 w 



■Sec- 
tion. 



34-35 
34 . 



Owner. 



Genera! .".... 
Bun ie Compress 

and Warehouse 

Co. 
Union Oil Co. . . 



Bunkie Ice and 
Bottling Co. 

Texas and Pacific 

Rwy. 
Sentell .... 

Lemoine Brothers. 
T. L. Grimes. . . 
Emil Regard . . . 



Regard cotton gin 

Natchez and 
Marksville Oil 
Co. 

General . . . . 

Corporation . . . 



Vicksburg, Shreve- 
rort and Pacifio 
Rwy 

Levy Compress Co. 

Dr. J C Christian 
John Gigleux. . . 

H. e. Wardlaw. . 

A G. Whitlow . . 



Whited & Wheless 



. . . do 

Allen Brothers & 

Wadley. 
Antrim Lumber Co. 

Trigg Lumber Co. 
W.H. Smiths Son. 
Lone Star Mill . . 



Driller. 



L. B. Hart Well 

Co. 
. . . do 



L. B. Hart Well 
Co. 



-W. B. Sturm . 



Andrews Well Co , 

I 

^ Andrews Well Co. 

Will A. Strong . . 
John Gigleux. . . 



LB. Clifford Well 
" Co. 



L B.Clifford Well 
Co. 

. . do 

J. P. Clifford. . . 

. . do 



Authority. 



Postmaster .... 
Bunkie Compress 

and Warehouse 

Co. 
Union Oil Co. . . . 

C. J. Pope, presi- 
dent. 

G. W. Reiber, 
pumpman. 

L. B. Hart Well 

Co. 
. . do 

T. L. Grimes .... 

Emil Regard .... 



L. B. Hart Well 
Co. 

A. W. Myers, fore- 
man. 

C. P. Couvillion . . 
, . . do 



H. P. Touzet, fore- 
man for Andrews 
Well Co. 

Will A. Strong . . . 

Dr. O Lerch 3 . . . 
John Gigleux. . . . 

A. C. Veatch 4 . . . 

A. C. Veatch 5 . . . 



L. B. Clifford 



do 



Allen Brothers & 

Wadley. 
Thos. A. Antrim, 

president. 
L. B. Clifford . . . 
W. H. Smith. . . . 
J. P. Clifford. . . . 



* For additional data see " Descriptive notes," follosving tliis table. 

1 Numbers up to 136 refer to Arkansas localities and hence are not given in this report. The location of many may be 
seen on PI. xxxvii. 

2 See note. 

3 Geology and Agriculture of Louisiana, pt. i, 1892, pp. 46-47. 



3S2 



vkatch] 



Underground Water of Northern Louisiana 



135 



northern Louisiana. 
(NORTHERN) 





Depth 
of well. 


.Approxi- 
mate ele- 
vation of 
surface. 


Height 

water 
above 
(+) or 
below 
(-) the 
ground. 


Depths of 
principal 
water- 
bearing 
strata. 


YIELD PER 
MINUTE. 


Geologic 
horizon 

of water- 
bearing 
strata. 


Quality. 


Remarks. 




Diame- 
ter of 
well 


Flow. 


Pump. 


No. 


Inches 


Feet 

12-40 
I So 

15S 
140 

142 
90 
135 

135 

35-60 

no 

135 
1,282 

40-150 
=290 

540 

535 


Feet 


Feet 


Feet 


Gall. 


Gall. 








756 

757 

758 

759 

760 
761 

762 

762A 

763 

764 

765 




65 

1... 


— 10 

— 8 

— 16 

— 13 

— 10 






66 

50 
100 


Quater- 
nary . . 

. . .do . . 

. . .do . . 

do 








115 140 




Hard, al- 
kaline. 
Hard. 




4 


Strainer, 16 feet . . 








. . do 


Hard. 
. do 


2 wells 










do 














.do . . 
. . .do . . 

. .do 


. do . . 
Alkaline; 
magne- 
sia. 




6 




— 32 






140 










16 


85 




( 42-'32 
\ 243-259 
( 452-523 
1 40 45 
{ 65 




40 


Quaternary 


Hard. . 


\ 












i 






Small. 

Large. 

100 

53 


) Quater- 
) nary . 

Sabine . . 
. . .do . . 


Hard 


766 
767 

} 768 
768A 

769 

770 

1 "■ 

772 
) 


6-4 


82 

3(^3 
370 


— 42 

— 130 
-136 


Brackish 

Hard. . 

Soft . . 


Public well; used for 
stock. 

1 Supplies water tank; 
( pumped with air lift. 

Casing and strainer, 

4S0 feet. 
Mineral well .... 


1 8-6 

5-3 J^ 


r 40 
J 150 165 
1 415-46; 
I 535-540? 
435 


V . . . 
J 










145 

13& 

10-20 

10-20 

286 

233 
no 

300 

no 
350 
196 


235 
160 
160 


— 2 


142 
} 






Sabine . . 

Nacatoch 

. . .do . . 


Hard. . 


S 3? 
i 36 






Brine. . 


( Salt manufactured 

( from 1840 to 1855. 

Salt manufactured 

from 1S40 to 1^77. 

In red sand 

In gray sand .... 


) 








209 
211 

255 


— 3° 

— 9 

— 6 


( 140-160 

\ 260-286 
( I 20- I 40 
( 230 233 






Sabine . . 

. . .do . . 
. . .do . 
. . .do . . 
. . .do . . 


Strongly 
alkaline. 
Good? . . 


4 




42 
125 




6 
5 


Good? . 
Soft . . 

. . do . . 


In gray sand .... 
Used for boilers in 

saw mill .... 
Fine for boilers and 

drinking . . 
Completed in 1896 . 
Completed in 1S99 
Water above a bed 

of lignite. 


\ 774 
775 


160-263 






. . .do . . 


7-6 


\^ 








Soft \ '. 


777 
778 


215 
215 


8 — 20 






Large. 


Sabine . . 
. . .do . . 


3 






779 













4 Geological Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 19C2, pp. 76-80. 

5 Op. cit., pp. 71-75. 
* In town. 

7 Also reported " a little hard." 
^ Flowed for a short time. 



136 



Gboi.. Surv. lyA. Report of 1905 



[buli,. 4 



No. 



781 



*7^3 
*784 
*78S 



787 



79) 
79 [ 
792 



*7g6 

*797 

798 

*799 

«8oo 
*8oi 

*802 

*8o4 



Wells and springs in 

LOUISIANA 



'Location. 



Town- 
ship. 



BOSSIER PARISH^ 

continued 

Benton 

Benton, 4 miles east 
of. 



Bolinger 



j Bossier City, 3 miles 
\ north of. 

Bossier City, 2j^ 

miles north of. 
Bossier City .... 



do. 



Bossier City, 5 raiies 

soutlieast of. 
' CoUinsburg, 8 miles 

south of. 
Curtis .... 



Curtis Station . . 
Foster Station . , 
Foster Station, 
mile north of. 
Haughton . . . . 



Pool 

Red River Valley 

CADDO PARISH. 

Belcher 



do. 



( Belcher, 3 miles 
( northeast of. 

Blanchard 

Dixie 



Dixie, 25^ miles east 
of. 

Dixie, 3 miles south- 
west of. 

Furrh : 



23 N 



-21N . 
17N . 

17N . 
18N . 
18N . 

18N . 
iSN . 



20N . 

20N . 

■21N . 

18N 
20N . 

20N . 
19N . 



Range . 



13 W 



Sec- 
tion. 



14W 
13W 

13W 
13W 
13W 



Missionary . . . 
Red River Valley 



23N 



14W . 

14W . 

14W . 

15W . 
14VV . 

14W . 
15W . 



14W . 



Owner. 



do 



Hanks Sawmill. 



S. H. Bolinger 
Co 



Cash Plantation 



Eenj. Gray . . . . 

Shreveport Cotton 
Oil Co 

Hamilton Oil Mill 
Co 



J. H. Fullilove. 



Will Sentell 
A. Curtis . . , 



do 



J. F. Foster . . . 
J. M.Foster Plant- 
ing Co .... 
R. L. McAnn . . 



Connell, Moss 

Co 

General . . . . 



Glassell Brothers, 



John Glassell. 



Colonel Swan . . 

R. T.Coal & Son. 

M. A. & J. D. 

Dickson . . . . 

John Sentell . . . 

Glassell & Adger. 

Furrh & Co . . . 
W. B. Means. . . 
General 



Driller. 



do 



L B. Clifford Well 
Co. 



A. L. Pullin 
A. L. Pullin 



Stoer & Backus 



do. 



Stoer & Backus. 



, . . do . . . . 
A. L. Pullin , 

A. L. Pullin . 



do 
do. 



A. L. Pullin . 
. . do. ... 



. . do 

Stoer & Backus. 
A. L. Pullin . . 



Authority. 



do 



do 



A. L. Pullin , 
A. L. Pullin 



Stoer & Backus. 



J. H. Fullilove. 



A. Curtis. 



J. F. Foster . . 
J. M.Foster Planting 

Co. 
Stoer & Backus. . 



. . do 

A. L. Pullin . . 

A. L. Pullin . . 



. . do . . . 
R. T. Coal 



A. L. Pullin . . 
E. M. Adger . 

A. L. Pullin . . 
Stoer & Backus. 
A. L. lullin* . 



*For additional data see " Descriptive notes," following th's table. 

1 Flowed for a short time. 

2 Water lowered on pumping to 30 feet below the surface. 



381 



veatch] 



Underground Water of Northern Louisianv 



137 



northern Louisiana — Continued. 

(NORTHERN)-Continued. 



Diame- 
ter of 
well. 


Depth 
of well. 


Approxi- 
mate ele- 
vation of 
surface. 


Height 

water 
above 
( + )or 
below 
(-) the 
ground. 


Depths of 
principal 

water- 
bearing 

strata. 


YIEL 
MI^ 

Flow. 


D PER 
UTE. 

Pump. 
Gall. 


Geologic 
horizon 

of water- 
bearing 
strata. 


Quality. 


Remarks. 


No. 


Inches 


Feet 

140 
170 

23s 
235 
3 '5 

330 

330 

600 

"95 

210 

600 
197 

200± 
210 
215 

250 
300 


Feet 

215 
215 

1 309 

'77 

175 
170 
170 

.64 

195 
174 

I7"± 
167 
167 

230 


Feet 
— 8 


Feet 


Gall. 


. . .do . . 






780 
78. 

j 782 

[ 783 

7*4 
785 
786 

787 

} 788 

789 

790 
79' 
792 

793 

794 


^V" 








. . .do . . 


Soft . . 




\ \ 

3 

2H 


— 40 

— 35 

'— 28 
2— 30 

2— 12 

3— 12 

— 15 

— 15 


162 23s 

r 50-130 
J 155-160 

I 315-330 
300-330 

225-233 

■47-159 

172-210 

( 30-120- 
( 232-240- 

197 


V.'.'. 


Large. 

Large. 
20 
10 


. . .do . . 
Quaternary 

Sabine . . 

Sabine . . 
. . .do . . 


. . do . . 

Hard. . 
1 do . . 
^ Bad . . 
( Good . 

Slightly 
hard. 


( Used for mill and 
-, drinking; tempera- 
/ lure, 64° F. 

J Completed in 1898; 
) casing, 120 feet. 

Completed in 189S; 

casing, 80 feet. 
No water below 235 

feet. 
Screen placed from 

147 to 159 feet; end 

of casing at i6g 

feet. 
Temperature, 66" F. 

1 Well at Lake Point 
1 on Red River. 
Temperature, 60° F.; 
casing, 100 feet. 

Casing, 150 feet. . . 
Casing, 140 feet. . 

I % inch screen from 
200 to 23 ) feet; 
completed in iSqo. 

Screen placed 105- 
III feet. 

See No. 804. 

Casing, 3 inches, 0- 
160 feet; 2 inches 
160-220. 
Temperature, 66'' F ; 
casing, 100 feet. 
/ Grav. 1 at 123 feet; 
1 Crescent place. 
Casing, 100 feet. 
No water below 225 
feet. 
1 


6-4 






. . .do . . 


Hard . 

Iron, al- 
kaline. 

Hard. . 

Soft.. . 

Soft, al- 
kaline. 

Poor . . 

Hard. . 

Soft.. . 

. . do . . 


2>4 




10 


. . .do . . 

Quaternary 
Sabine . . 
. . .do . 








2/4 














3 
3 


4- 14 
— 10 


200-210 




lo 
20 


Sabine . . 
. . .do . . 

. . .do . . 


2%-'M 


200-250 
1C5-111 




























3-2 
2j^ 


260 

225 

240 
185 
371 

391 
182 
425 

750 
293 


186.5 

187.5 

■93 
227 
182 

[ 'S3 
'75 


12 

— 8 

— 4 

— 16 

— 16 


245-260 

2r3-225 

( 30-125 
1 230 240 

' 215 225 

170-182 
425 




Large. 


Sabine . . 
. . .do . . 


Soft.. . 
. do . . 


795 

796 

1 797 


2^2 




Large. 
. .do 


Pleistocene 

Sabine . . 

. . .do . . 


Hard. . 

Soft . 
Sc ft, fine 
Soft . . 

( Soft, 
1 brackish 
Hard, 
sally. 


3 

2j4-I^ 










. . .do . . 


798 


t I 




16 


. . .do . . 


7<.9 
800 


1 

Abandoned 

Dry hole, abandoned 
Completed in 19C0 . 


801 


3 
3-2 






802 


205 


5 + 0.4 


( 152-158 
( 2 '-2 270 


I ' 


50 


Sabine . . 


Soft. . 


803 
804 






















3 Lowers on pumping to — 24 feet. 

4 Depth to water in 1S98 was 6 feet. 

5 Sent. 20, 1902. In 1900 water would rise 2 feet. 

''Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. for 1899, 19-0, pp. 179-181. 



.-> 3 



138 



Geoi.. Surv. IvA. Report of 1905 



[BU1.1:.. 4 



Wells and springs in 

LOUISIANA 



No. 


Location. 


Town- 
ship. 


Range. 


Sec- 
tion. 


Owner. 


Driller. 


Authority. 


*8o5 
*8o6 


CADDO PARISH — 

continued, 

Robson 

fShreveport (Market 
1 street and Cross 
( Bayou). 

Slireveport (Louisi- 
ana avenue and 
Cross Bayou). 
Shreveport (Spring 
between Texas and 
Milam streets). 
Shreveport (Market 
and Cy pr e ss 
streets). 
Shreveport (Edwards 
and Cypress 
streets). 
( Shreveport ( M a r- 
] shall and Crockett 
( streets). 
( Shreveport (Milam 
< and Louisiana 
( streets). 

... do 


16 N . 


12W . 


18. . . 


Captain Robson . 

Shreveport Ice Co. 

Shreveport water 
works. 

Henry Rose . . . 

Shreveport Street 
Railway. 

Shreveport Gas, 
Electric Light 
and Pc>wer Co. 

(Shreveport Athle- 
\ tic Association. 

The Inn 


A. L. Pullin . . . 

('American Well 
Works Co. 


A. L. Pullin .... 
I 












1 F. Collins, chief 
( engineer. 
H. F. Juengst, C. E. 


»8o7 
»8o8 


A. L. Puilin . . . 
Stoer & Backus. . 








809 
810 


















Engineer 

Chas. Stoer 


811 


1 






{ Stoer & Bac' us. . 
... do 


«8l2 








... do 


813 
814 

815 










do 




Shreveport (Louisi- 
ana and Donovan 
streets). 
Shreveport (Louisi- 
ana and Howell 
streets). 
( Shreveport (Louisi- 
•< ana andLake 
( streets). 
( Shreveport (Com- 
j merce and Battle 
( streets). 
Shreveport (Texas 
and Tryon streets). 
Shreveport (Texas 
street . 
• 
(Shreveport 'M. K. 
&T. andT. & P. 
( crossing). 




















Queen City Laundry 

Star bottling works 
City Ice Co. . . . 


Stoer & Backus. . 

... do .... . 
... do 


John Sewel!,propri';- 


816 


I 






tor. 
Chas. Stoer 


*8i7 
818 


) 






— Aiexander, man- 


s 






Chas. Stoer. . . . 


... do 


ager. 
Chas. Stoer 


819 
820 








C. C. McCloud . . 


... do 


... do 


\ 






Shreveport Ice Co. 

f Texas and Pacific 
( Rwy. 


, A. L. Pullin . . . 
Stoer & Backus. . 

American Well 
Works Co. 


A. L. Pullin .... 


821 


\ 






Chas. Stoer 

\ . . 






( 



*For additional data see "Descriptive notes," following this table. 

'Depth also given, 165-175. 

^Each well. 

3Test November, 1899. 



VEATCHJ 



Undkrground Water of NortiIf.kn Louisiana 



139 



northern Louisiana — Continued 

(NORTHERN)— Continued 









Height 




YIELD PER 










Diame- 


Depth 


Approxi- 
mate ele- 


of 
water 
above 


Depths of 
principal 


MINUTE. 


Geologic 
horizon 
of water- 














ter of 


of well. 


vation of 


(-1-) or 


water- 






Quality. 


Remarks. 


No. 


well. 




surface. 


below 
(-) the 
ground. 


bearing 
strata. 


Flow. 


Pump. 


bearing 
strata. 








Inches. 


Feet. 


Feet. 


Feet. 


Feet. 

r 79-106 


Galls. 


Galls. 
Large. 


Pleistocene 


( Hard, 
< alkaline 


1 




A 


225 


155 


—16 


I 225 




. .do . 


Sabine . . 


( iron. 
I Soft, 
■< magne- 


;-Completed in 1898 . 
j 


86, 


















1 • 
{ sia. 






996 




f-20 
U15 


200 ± 






. . .do . . 


Soft . . 


1 With gas; tempera- 


1 


4 
( 5 


171 


961 996 






Nacatoch. 


Brine . 


) ture, 84O F. 

( NVater used in raak- 








[ 806 


{ 4H 


1250 


17' 


—30 


200 =fc 




225 


Sabine . . 


Soft . . 


< ing ice; temperature. 


1 


( 4^^ 


















( 70° =t F. 


J 


t-^y, 


244 


194 


—43 


218-228 




370 


. . .do . . 


. . do . . 


City supply from fil- 
tered surface water. 


807 


4-2K2 

4 


280 


.85 
185 


—18 






20 


. . .do . . 


. . do . . 


Temperature, 66° F . 
Good for boiler pur- 


808 


120 




1 20 






. . .do . 


. . do . . 


8c9 




















poses. 




4 


350=1= 


i8s 


—40 








. . .do . . 


Slightly 
hard . 




810 














6-4 


338 


182 


—24 


1 >5o 


j... 


30 ± 


. . .do . . 


f Alk'iine 
I soft- 


( Casing, 6-inch, to 96 
•< feet; 4-ircli, gC to 150 


811 










i ? 


) 






I feet; screen, 20 feet 




4-254 


324 


1 90 




( 99 1C9 
JM«-.63 

( 93-105 


i... 

s 


30 


. . .do . . 


Soft. . 


( Pumps sand if 
) pumped hard. 
( Casing 4 inch, 01083 


812 


4-2K 


335 


195 


—32 


i4S-'63 


V . . . 




. . .do . . 




J ft.; 2i4 inch, 83 to 157 
( ft.; used for laundry. 


813 






\ 










Springs 














Soft . . 


Used largely for 
drinking water in 


814 












so =t 


























Shreveport. 




3 


i5o± 


177 


— 4 5 






Large. 


S.I bine . . 


. . do . . 


Used for laundry in 

1898. 

( Casing and screen, 


8.5 




\ T 


}... 








I3-1J4 


137-t- 


i8s 


—30 


. .do . 


. . .do . . 


. . do . . 


< 137 feet; tempera- 


816 
















( ture, 68-^ F. 




( 6-4 


150 


182 




Hn- 150 




"7 


) 








\ 6-4 


180 


182 


'—18' 






9 
7 


> . .do . . 


. . do . . 


Water scales badly . 


8,7 


( 64 


292 


182 








j 




2'/2 
2K 


350 =b 

J2vi 


215 


■ -20 
.... 












8 8 














819 






J 140-146 
I 213-225 

I 140-150 


1 








I Completed June, 


6-4H 

6-4^ 


237 
33S 


230 

230 


—45 


] ■ : ■ 


+30 
5-F30 


Sabine . . 
. . .do . . 


Soft . . 

( Iron, 
1 softs. 


< i8gg; temperature, 
1 68-' F. 

I Completed June, 

< 1901; lignite at 240 


S20 




















( feet. 




7 


561 


230 


— so 


j 80-ino 
( 250 280 


i •■ 


60 


. . .do . . 


^oft 


N . water below 280 
ft. 


821 








4With air lift; driller reports 24 gallon 


each w th dt 


ep-vvell pu 


mp. 










5Estimaled by engineer 75 gallons. 
















^blight smell ot hydrogen sulphide. 






















20.3 











140 



Geol. Surv. lyA, Report of 1905 



Wells and springs in 
LOUISIANA 



No. 



822 

823 
824 
825 
826 
827 

8a8 



830 

831 

*832 

*834 

*S33 

836 

*8J7 
*838 

839 
*S40 

*84i 

*842 

*843 
*&AA 
*8|5 

♦846 
*847 



Location. 



CADDO PARISH 

continued. 



Shreveport (High 
House addition) 

Slireveport . 
'. Slireveport (Olive 
street). 

. . . do 



Shreveport 'g-Mile 
House). 

Shreveport, 2H miles 

southeast of, on 

Grij;sbys Island 

C Shreveport, 3 miles 

< southeast of, on 

( Shrcves Island 

Shreveport, 4 miles 
southeast of, 
Harts Island. 

Shreveport, 8 miles 
southeast of, ( 
Dogwood Place 

Shreveport, 10 miles 
southeast of, 
Bayiu Fierre. 

Suriey 



Uni 

Uni, I mile west of 



CALDWELL PARISH 



B'ankston , 
C larks. . . 

. . do . . 

. . do . . 



Columbia 



Columbia, 2 miles be 

low ... 

Columbia ... 
Cpl'oia, I mile above 
Columbia, 2 miles 

above. 
Columbia, 3 miles 

above. 
Ouachita River(Cill 

Landing'. 



Town- 
ship . 



17N 

17N 
17N 

17N 



20N . 
20N . 

2.N 

14N 

I2N 
I2N 
I2N . 

I3N 
I3N. 



Range. 



13W 

13W 
13W 

13W 



16W 
14W 
14W 

3E . 
3E . 
3E 
sE . 

3E . 
3E . 



Sec- 
tion. 



Owner. 



Stave factory . . . 

R. E. Bell . . . , 
T. C. Backus . . . 
Claiborne Foster 



J. M. Foster . 
S. B.Nichols. 



Ardis& Co. 



Aug. Mayer . . 
Andrew Querbes 

R K. Colquitt . 

A. H. Leonard . 



Uni Plantation 
W. S. Taylor. . 



U. S. Eng. test bor- 

i"g 

Clark Spur Lumber 

Co . ... 
. . . do . . . . 



do 



Town of Columbia 

U. S. Eng tes bor 

ing. 
. . do 



do 
do. 
do 



Driller. 



Stoer & Backus. 
. . do . . . . . 



I Chas. Steer. . . . 

; A. L. Pullin . . . 

. . do 

Chas. Stoer. . . 

Richter & Pullin 



Stoer & Backus . 
. . do 



A. L. Pullin , 
. . do . . . . 



Oscar Skanks. 
. . do . . . . 



do 



Oscar Shanks. 



Authority, 



Chas. Stoer. 



do 



. . do . . . . 
. do ... . 
A. L. Pullin . 
. . do . . . . 



Chas. Stoer 
. . do . . . 



U. H. Brown, agent. 

Aug. Mayer .... 
Chas. Stoer 



. . do 

S'oer & Backus. 

A. C. Veatch^ . 
A. L. Pullin . . 
. . do 



M. H. Marshall 3. 
Oscar Shanks. . . 



County clerk . . . 
M a. Marshall 3. 



do 
do 
do 



*For additional data see "Descriptive notes," following this table. 
lOwiier leports 15 feet. 



VKATCII 



Undkrgrounu Water of Nortiikrn Louisiana 



141 



vorthcin Louisiana — Coiitinuetl 
(NORTHERN)— Continued 





Depih 
ot well. 


Approxi- 
mate ele- 
vation of 
surface. 


Height 

ot 
water 
above 

( + )or 
below 
(-) the 
ground. 


Depths of 
principal 
water- 
bearing 
strata. 


YIELD PER 
MINUTE. 


Geologic 
horizon 

of water- 
bearing 
strata. 


Quality. 


Remarks. 




1 liame- 
tcr of 
well. 


Flow. 


Pump. 


No. 


Inches. 
\ 4 
) 2^ 

2^4-1 '4 

2'4-I^ 


Feet. 
iSo 


Feet. 
230 


Feet. 

—60 


Feet. 


Gaiis. 


Galls. 


. . .do . . 






822 


{ I 0-123 
\ 140-144 

103 


\ 




do 


Soft . . 
. . do . . 


( Casing, 158 ft.: com- 
-; pleted September, 
( 1901. 


\ .,3 


.03 -f 
[60 
241 

2i? 

ISO 
'97 

210 

201 
197 

2S8 

203 

55 
650 

370 

( 5° 
20S 

300 

iSo 

503 

43 

52 
220 

48 

52 

( 50 
I 50 






\ 




. . .do . . 


824 
[ 82s 

1 826 

827 

S28 


2^ 
2^ 

2'/4 


240 ± 
230 ± 








. . -do . . 

. . .do . . 

. . .do . . 

.do . . 


. . do . . 

. . do . . 

. . do . . 

do 


Casing, 100 feet. . 
Completed in 1890 . 

... do 

Casing, 80 feet . . . 
Completed in 1897 . 

Does not scale boil- 
ers; temperature, 
67.5° F. 

> Completer! in 1S93 . 


2>4 

2H 














. . do . 


176 

172 
170 

167 


— 18 

— 15 
—20 

1-8 

-i8 






+S 


Sabine . . 

Quaternary. 

Sabine . . 
. . .do . . 


. . do . . 

j Alk'line 

/ hard. 

Soft . . 

. . do . . 


j 100 
/ 200 






2H 
■2'--lH 




10 


829 
S30 


2>^ i54 






Large. 
. .do . 


. . .do . . 
. . .do . . 
Quaternary. 


. . do. . . 

. . do . . 

Hard, 
sulphur 


Casing, Tio foet, . . 
At gin 


831 

832 
S34 


2K-'K- 








185 










No water in sand be- 
tween 190 and ig'^ft. 
Same sections as Uni 
well. 


835 










. .do . 






S36 




27 

15 

27 

i5o± 

iSo=t 

i50± 

6S 

15 
18 ■; 














837 


4-2 


) 

—70 

—80 
—80 

+ 35 


•35-mS 
252-300 
110-150 

423-503 


20 


68 
50 
30 


Cockfield. 

Cockfield? 

. . .do . . 

Sabine . . 


Soft . . 
Iron . . 
. . do . 

Soft, mag- 
nesia. 


Completed January, 
I, 1903. 

Completed August, 
1901. 

Bad for boilers and 
drinking. Com- 
pleted in 1902. 

Completed August, 
1903. 


838 

839 
840 

841 
842 
















. 


843 




20 

28 

24 

14 

16 
















844 


















845 


















846 




I 














847 




) 

















=Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. for 1899, [1900], p. 190. 
sRept. Chief of Eng. for 1902, pt. 2, 1902, pp. 1560-1563. 



205 



142 



Geoi,. Surv. lyA. Report of 1905 



[BUI,!,. 4 



JVells and springs in 

LOUISIANA 



No. 


Location. 


Town- 
ship. 


Range. 


Sec- 
tion. 


Owner. 


Driller. 


Authority. 


*848 

*849 
*8so 

*8si{ 
*8S2 

*8S3 
*854 

*8s6 

8S7 

*839 

860 


CALDWELL PARISH — 

continued 

Ouachita River 
( Lower Breston 
place.) 

Ouachita River (Up- 
per Breston place) 

Ouachita River 
(Smithland.) 

CATAHOULA PARISH 

Black River (New 
Hope place.) 

Black River (Star 
View place.) 

Black River (Jones 
Bayou). 








... do 




. . do 








... do 




... do 








... do 




... do 


|6N. . 
6N. . 

7N.. 


7E . 








M. H. Marshall' . . 


7E 




... do 




... do 


6E . 




... do 




• • • do 




















Catahoula Oil and 
Development Co. 

S t . Louis, Iron 
Mountain and 
Southern Rwy. 

Smith & Adams 
Lumber Co. 




S. McDowell, presi- 
dent. 
E. Fisher, chief en- 


Olla 

011a, 1 mile south 
of 

Ouachita River (Cat- 
ahoula Shoals). 

Tullos 

Tullos, northeast of. 

White Sulphur 
Springs. 

CLAIBORNE PARISH 


iiN. . 
iiN. . 


2E . 
2E . 








gineer of bridges 
and buildings. 




Lumber Co. 
M. H. Marshalli . . 


loN. . 


lE . 




S t . Louis, Iron 
Mountain and 
Southern Rwy. 






861 








A. R. KilpatrickS. . 
S. H. Lockett4 . . . 


*862 


7N.. 


2E . 








862 A 






Hampton Stave Co. 


Chas. Halloway . 




*863 
864 


Lisbon, 6 miles east 

of. 
State line 

CONCORDIA PARISH 


21N. . 
23N. . 


4W . 
8W . 


IS 


Dr. 0. Lerchs . . . 


J. F. Deloach & 
Bro. 


Stoer & Backus. . 










86s 
866 


Black River station. 


7N. . 


6E 




Natchez, Red River 
and Texas R. R. 

Texas and i'acific 
Rwy. 

do 












president. 
B. S. Wathen, chief 


*867 
868 










engineer. 
C. H. Chamberlin, 










New Orleans and 
N 'eastern R. R. 

Natchez, Red River 
and Texas R. R. 

Concordia Oil Co. 




division engineer. 
S. McDowell. ; . . 


86g 
870 


Vidalia ...... 

... do 


7N. : 
7N... 


loE . 
loE . 


.... 






president. 
S. McDowell. . . . 



*For additional data see "Descriptive notes," following this table. 

iRept. Chief of Eng. for 1902, pt. 2, 1902, pp. 1560-1563. 

=See "Descriptive notes." 

sDeBow's Review, vol. 12, 1852, pp. 268-269. 

206 



vhatch] 



Underground Water of Northern I^ouisiana 



143 



northern Louisiana — Coiitiuued 
(NORTHERN)-Coniinued. 



Diame- 
ter of 
well. 


Depth 
of well. 


Approxi- 
mate ele- 
vation of 
surface. 


Height 

water 
above 
( )or 
below 
(-) the 
ground. 


Depths of 
principal 
water- 
bearing 
strata. 


YIKL 

MIN 

Flow. 


J PER 

UTE. 

Pump. 


Geologic 
horizon 

of water- 
bearing 
strata. 


Quality. 


Remarks. 


No. 


Inches 


Feet 
47 

\ 52 
47 

{ J^ 

50 

SO 

Springs 
1,550 

374 

297 

197 

400 =fc 

Springs 
. do . . 


Feet 
13 

17 
18 

•9 

5 

2 
8 

6 


Feet 


Feet 


Gall. 


Gall. 








848 


[ 
















) • • • 














849 
850 


I 














851 


) 














852 
















853 
854 












Salty. . 


Numerous salt sp'gs. 
Salt water with gas; 
temperature 86.5° F. 
Abandoned 

Not used 




Flows. 


W 


10 


Small 
Large 


Cockfield. 


855 






856 


i5o=fc 
II 
106 


— 130 
Flows. 






Cockfield. 
Catahoula 
Cockfield. 


Sulphur, 
iron._ 


857 


158-197 


60 


859 
860 


Salty. . 












Brine . 
Sulphur. 

Soft . . 


Bayou Castor salt 
springs. 


861 












Catahoula 

Sabine . . 


862 


4-3 


600 


.350-1- 


— 20 






Large . 


Completed in I904 . 


S62A 






863 


2S5 




-65 


205-285 






Sabine . . 


Good, soft 


Completed in 1900; 
casing 200 feet. 

See under Catahoula 
Parish. 


864 








5 
4 

5 


70 
950 
145 
340? 

70 

300 rfc 












Quaternary 
Catahoula 
Quaternary 




.... 

865 


60 

60 
63 
63 


Flows. 
— 10 


950 
105-145 


Sm3ll. 


Large . 
140 


Brine . 
Brine . 


Alluvial d'p's, 0-80; 

yellow clay, 80-950. 

Used for locomotives 

Probably refers to 
Ferriday well. 


866 
867 
868 


— 40 






15 


Quaternary 
Catahoula 


869 
870 






Fresh . 




4An 

5 Pre 

of Louis 


1. Rept. I 
liminary t 
ana, pt. 2 


Louisiana S 
eport on t! 
, 1893, p. 1 


tate Unii 
le wells 

18. 


i. for 1869, I 
f Louisiana 


870, p. S7 
south of 


the Vick 
207 


>burg, Shreve 


port and I 


'acific Railway; Geol. i 


jnd Agr, 



144 



Geoi.. Surv. La. Report of 1905 



[bull. 4 



Wells and springs in 

LOUISIANA 



No. 



*87i 
871 A 

*872 



*873 

874 

*87S 



876 



*877 

87S 
879 

*88o 
*88i 
*882 



*88s 

♦886 
*887 

*SS8 
889 

*890 



Location. 



DE SOTO PARISH 

Frierson .... 



Grand Cane, 3/^ mi., 
from. 

EAST CARROLL PARISH 

Hays Landing . . . 



Lake Providence. . 

. . do 

. .do 



FRANKLIN PARISH 

Wisner 



GRANT PARISH 

Colfax 



Fairmount . 
Georgetown . . 

Pollock .... 

Rochelle . . . 



Sandspur (Antonia 
station.) 

Stay 

JACKSON PARISH 

Ansley 



Hodge 



Jonesboro . 



Wyatt . 



LINCOLN PARISH 

Chautauqua Station. 
Dubach 



Ruston 



Town- 
ship. 



15N. 



20N. 



SN. 
9N. 

6N. 

9N. 

7N. 

6N. 
16N. 
16N. 

15N. 



20N. 
18N. 



Range. 



13W 



13E 



13E 
13F 
13E 



3W . 

3W . 
lE . 



lE 
lE 
lE 

iW 

3W 

3W 

3W 



3W 
3W 



Sec- 
tion. 



Owner. 



R. G. Hedrick , 



Test boring. 



do 



Driller. 



Town of Providence L. B. Hart Well Co. 



St. Louis, Iron 
Mountain and 
Southern Rwy. 



Town of Colfax 



General 
. . do . 



Big Creek Lumber 

Co. 
Louisiana Lumber 

Co. (Ltd.) 
S t . Louis, Iron 

Mountain and 

Southern Rwy 
S.:HopperMillCo. 



Davis Bros . 



Huie-Hodge Lum- 
ber Co 

Southern Arkansas 
Lumber Co. 



Wyatt Lumber Co' 



La. Chautauqua. 
Fred B. Dubach 
Lumber Co. 

Ruston Waterworks 



C. H. Winters 



L.B.Hart Well Co. 



Oscar Shanks . 
. . . do . • • • 

... do ... . 



L.B.Clifford Well 
Co. 



do 



Authority. 



Foreman 

A. C. Pealei .... 

E. W. Hilgard^. . . 



do 



F. J. Powell, mayor 

G. D. Harriss. . . . 



C. H Winters . 



L. B. Hart 



Postmaster . 
. . do . . . 



Oscar Shanks. 
. . do . . . . 



L.B.Clifford Well 
Co. 



. . do 



L.B. Clifford Well 
Co. 



. . do . . . . 
L. B. Clifford 
. . do . . . . 



G. S. Smith] , 



do 



L. B. Clifford 



Dr. O. LerchS 
L. B. Clifford 



do 



*For additional data see " Descriptive notes," following this table. 

iBull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 32, 1886, p. 124. 

2Ann. Rept. Miss. River Com. for 1883: 48th Cong., ist!sess., House Ex. Doc. No. 37, iJ 

sGeol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, pp. 231-232. 

208 



VEATCH 



Underground Water of Northern Louisiana 



145 



northern Lou isiana — Con ti n ued . 

(NORTH ERN)-Continued. 



Inches 
S-4 



^% 



5 
8-6 



Depth 
of well. 



Feet 
1,500 



248 
271 
1 12 



25 
35 

910 

565 
75 



545 
538 
302 

Spring. 
179 

425 



Approxi- 
mate ele- 
vation of 
surface. 



Feet 
.98 



los 
105 
los 



96 



i8g 



200 
200 

20„± 



^35 f 



Height 

water 
above 
(+)or 
below 
<— ) the 
ground. 



Depths of 
principal 
water- 
bearing 
strata. 



Feet 
Flows 



YIELD PBR 
MINUTE. 



Flow. 



Feet 
241-281 
998-1,275 



—15 
+ 65 



5+16 

+ 5 
—45 

—45 

—33 

-36 

—34 
—34 

,-52 



7 — 120 



Gall. 



M 



Pump. 



Gall. 



255 

555-565 

60-75 

60-78 

190-245 

292-300 

500-545 

490-538 

242-252 
272-302 



173 '79 
120-126 

373-425 



Geologic 
horizon 

of wafer- 
bearing 
strata. 



Quality. 



Sabine 
Nacatoch ? 



Sabine 



+50 



Large 



75 
124 



Large 



Eocene. . 
Quaternary 



Quaternary 



Quaternary 
Cockfield 

Quaternary 



Remarks. 



Salty. 



Good 



Not tested . . . 
Salt water with gas; 

temperature 70F. 
De Soto Mineral 

Springs, local resort 



Test boring of Mis- 
sissippi River Com 
mission. 



Catahoula 
Cockfield. 
Lafayette? 



Sabine . . 

. .do . . 

. .do . . 
. .do . . 
. .do . . 



Sabine . . 

Claiborne 

(lower). 

Pabine . . 



Salty. 

Hard 
Soft 

. do . 

Salty. 

Soft . 

. do . 



Soft . 

. . do . 

. . do . 
. .do . 
. .do . 



Iron 
Soft . 



Soft 



Water excessively 
ferruginous. 



Gas at 660 and 1,100 
ft ; 2 ounces of salt 
per gallon. 



No. 



Below 35 feet water 

is salty. 
Used for drinking 

purposes. 
Abandoned. . . . 

Group of three wells 



Water in gravel. . . 



Pumpin? iro gallons 
per minute water 
lowers to 80 feet. 
Casing 300 feet; com 
pleted in 1901. 
) Well at planer, com. 
1 pleted in igor. 
I Well at sawmill, com 
I pleted in 1902. 



871 
87 1 A 

872 



873 
874 
875 



876 



877 



Many fosiil shells 

above water horizon 

Will lower 40 ft. when 

pumping 100,000 

gallons per day. 



Jin 1900; in 1902 flow reported 20 gallons. 

5ln 1896; in igo2 would rise only 5 feet. 

''Geology and Agriculture of Louisiana, pt. i, 1893, pp. 46-47. 

/Chief engineer gives depth in 1902 as 137 feet. 



209 



146 



Gkoi.. Surv. La. Report of 1905 



[bui,!,. 4 



No. 



892 



*893 



*897 



900 

*goi 

902 

903 

905 



909 
*9io 

*9ii 
912 

*9i3 



Location. 



LINCOLN PAKISH— 

continued 
Ruston 



MADISON PARISH 

Barnes 



Delta . 
Mound 



MOREHOUSE PARISH 



Bastrop . . 
Collinston 



Mer Rouge . . 
Oak Ridge . . . 

NATCHITOCHES 
PARISH 

Allen 



Boleyn 

Campti, 2 miles 
northeast of. 



Town- 
ship. 



16N. 



16N. 
16N. 



21N. 

20N. 



21N. 
19N. 



9N. 



Derry . ... 
GoldonnaS . . . 
Grappes Bluft . 



Luella. 



12N. 
iiN. 

9N. 



do 9N. 

Montrose ' 7N. 



Natchitoches. . . . 
. . do 

. . do 

Natchitoches, i mi 

west of. 
Natchitoches, ij^ 

miles northwest of. 



9N. 
9N. 

9N. 
gN. 
9N. 



Range. 



3W 

13E 

15E 
14E 



SE 
6E 



7E 
7E 



loW 



5W 

8W 

6W 

6W 
6W 

7W 
7W 

7W 
7W 
7W 



We/ls and springs in 
LOUISIANA 



Sec- 
tion. 



Owner. 



Ruston Compress 
Co. 



Vicksburg, Shreve 
port and Pacific 
Rwy. 



General 



Court-house . . 
S t . Louis, Iron 
Mountain and 
Southern Rwy. 

. . . do 

. . . do 



Driller. 



L.B. Clifford Well 
Co. 



General 



Pelty & Brown 

Lumber Co. 
Louisiana Railway 

and Navigation 

Co. 
General 



Louisiana and Ar- 
kansas Rwy. 
Sawmill 



J. W. Cockerham, 
Jrl 



Montrose Lumber 
Co. 

City waterworks 
, . do .... . 



Natchitoches Nor- 
mal School. 

Fourth of July 

Spring 

Iron Springs . . . 



C. H. Winters . 



Oscar Shanks. 
C. H. Winters 



H. H. Jones 
A. L. Pullin . 



Clifford Well Co 



Andrews Well Co 



Authority. 



L. B. Clifford 



R. B. Coxe, superin- 
tendent water divi- 



. . do 

F. L. Maxwell 



A. E. Washburn, par- 
ish surveyor. 
W. A. Harrington . 
C. H. Winters . . . 



Oscar Shanks. 
C. H. Winte's 



D. A. Blackshear. . 

D. G. Petty .... 

Louisiana Railway 
and Nav gation Co. 

Postmaster 

H. H. Jones .... 

A. L. Pullin .... 



J. W. Cockerham, Jr. 



do 



J. C. Rives, secretary 

[Judge C. H. Levy, 
1 superintendent. 

. do 



President Caldwell 
G. D. HarrisS. . . 

, . . do 



*For additional data, see "Descriptive notes," following this table. 

iVaries with height of river. 

^Harris. G. D., Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, pp. 231. 



vk.a,tch] 



Underground Water of Northern Louisiana 



147 



northern Louisiana — Continued 

(NORTHERN)— Continued 



Diame- 
ter of 
well. 

Inches. 
4 

6 

36 ± 
fa 

. . .'. 

I 


Depth 
of well. 


Approxi- 


Height 

of 
water i 


Depths of 
principal 
water- 
bearing 
strata. 


YIELD PER 
MINUTE. 


Geologic 
horizon 

of water- 
bearing 
strata. 


Quality. 


1 

1 

1 




mate ele- ' above 

vation of ( + ) or 

surface. 1 below 

1 (-) the 

ground. : 


Flow. 


Pump. 


Remarks. 


No. 


Feet 
449 

72 

1,200 =fc 
135 

25-60 

IS3 
81 

79 
40 

Springs 

412 
Spring. 


Feet 
301 

81 

87 
S3 


Feet 
— 140 

(') 

1-38 
1-30 


Feet 


Galls. 


Galls. 
68 


Sabine . . 
Quaternary 


Soft . . 


Supplies compress 
and ice factory. 

Used for locomotives 

No water below 135 

feet. 
Used for locomotives 


891 


2S-72 

( 12-50 
1 100-135 




892 


\ 




893 


\ 




Quaternary 

Quaternary 
. . .do . . 


Slightly 
hard. 


894 








895 

896 
897 

898 
899 

900 
901 
902 

903 
904 
905 


=113-4 
79 

93 


=-67.1 

— 8 

— 7 


67-153 
64-81 

79-89 
24-40 








.... 


140-j- 
70 


. . .do . . 

. . .do . . 
. . .do . . 


Iron . . 


Good soft water: ex- 
lent for locomotives 

Completed in iSgS . 










Many chalybeate 
springs 


250 ± 


+ 20 


412 






. . .do . . 


Good . 








. . do . . 


Supplies railroad tank 
by pipe line. 

No wells. Cisterns 

used exclusively. 
Test well. 

Water in coarse ..sand 
and gravel, 30-foot 
screen. 

i 

) ■ ■ ■ ■ 
















4 

4 

\ 4 

1 : 

6 

1- < 

I 360 
\ 1/2 

4 2K 


475 + 
•55 

707 

36 

86 
106 
496 

457 
19-64 

726 
Springs 
. .do . 














145 

{i 

100 
130 

130 


-25 

(-20 
■\ Flows 
( . do . 

— 20 

— 4 

— 3 

]-.- 

1 4—0.5 






Quaternary 
. . . do? . 


Iron . . 

Salty . 

. . do . . 






640 
700-707 




Sabine . . 
. . .do . . 


906 






10+ 
Large. 


Quaternary 

. . .do . . 

Sabine . . 
. . .do . . 


Iron . . 

Poor . . 

Salty • 
Brine . 
Good, 

soft . 
Brine . 
Fresh 
Brine . 


907 
. 908 


So- I 80 

200-220 
457 




No water below 180 ft. 
r Salt water with gas . 






909 






Claiborne? 

Sabine . . 
. . .do . . 
. . .do . . 


910 


35-3S 
96-108 
7 1 0-7 26 






( Small amount of gas 
i at 7 10 feet. 

Local resort .... 




911 
912 
913 




25 


1 










. . .do . . 






1 • " ■ ■ 






















3See Nc 
•4Flowec 
SGeol. 5 


). 994, Drak 

for a short 

survey Louis 


:s Salt W 
time afte 
iana, Re 


orks, W 
r comple 
3t. of 190 

211 


nn Parish. 

ion. 

2, pp. 147-14S 


. 




- 



148 




Geol. Surv. IvA. Report op 1905 [bui.i<. 4 

JVells and springs in 

LOUISIANA 


No. 


Location. 


Town- 
ship. 


Range. 


Sec- 
tion. 


Owner. 


Driller. 


Authority. 


*9M 
915 

916 
917 

*9i8 
*9i9 

*920 

*92I 
*922 

♦923 

*924 

92s 

926 

927 

*928 
*929 

930 

931. 
932 


NATCHITOCHES 
PARISH — 

continued 
Natchitoclies,2 mil's 

northwest of. 
Natchitoches,2 mil's 

north of. 
Sans Souci 


9N.. 
9N . 
iiN. . 


7W . 




Breazeale Springs 




G. D. Harris . . . 


7W . 




6W . 


22 








Weaver Bros . . . 

U.S. Eng. 'test bor- 
ing. 


Stoer & Backus. . 


Chas. Stoer. .... 
M. H. Marshall' . . 


OUACHITA PARISH 








( Cheniere, 3 miles 
i southeast of. 


}i7N. 


3E . 










U.S.Eng. test bor- 
ing. 

Consolidated Ice 
Co. 

do 




M. H. Marshall! . 

Will A. Strong . . . 

Consolidated Ice Co. 
Will A. Strong . . . 










Will A. Strong . . 


do 








. . do 








Monroe Waterw'ks 

and Light Co. 
Planters' Oil Co 


Will A. Strong . . 


. . do 








Monroe, y^ mile 

south of. 
Monroe, % to 1% 

miles north of. 
Monroe, 6 miles 

north of. 








Ouachita cotton 
mills. 




Guy P. Stubbs . . . 
G. D. Harris^ . . . 

M. M. Munsons , . 

M. H. Marshall! . . 


























U.S. Eng. test bor- 
ings. 




Rock Row Shoals 
(Ouachita River.) 

POINTK COUPEE 
PARISH 


19N. . 


3E . 














E. G. Benker, sheriff 

B. S. Wathen, chief 
engineer. 










Texas and Pacific 
Rwy. 
... do 














RAPIDES PARISH 

Alexandria(ciiy hall) 

/ Alexandria (water- 
\ works'. 


4N. . 
J4N. . 


iW . 




j Corporation of 
1 Alexandria. 

. do . . . 


1 Andrews Well Co. 
. . do 


(4) 




iW . 













*For additional data see "Descriptive notes, "'following this table. 

'Ann. Rept. Chief of Eng. for 1902, pp. 1564-1566. 

^Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept of 1902, p. 211. 

sPump repairer, St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Rwy. 



vkatch] 



Underground Water of Northern Louisiana 



149 



jiorthern Louisiana — Continued 
(NORTHERN)— Continued 



I Approxi- 
Depth mate ele- 
of well, vation of 
surface. 



Feet. \ Feet. 
Springs . . . 



.do 



.do . 

308 



32 

515 

50 

50 

485 

360 
400 

385 

400 =t- 
375 

400 ± 
260 



51 
50 
44 
157 
63 



145-165 



170 

ICO 



473 
560 



Height 
of 

water 
above 
( + ) pr 

below 
(-) the 
ground. 



Flows. 



-|-40 

4-40 

Flows, 
.do . . 



.do 
. do 



do 
•do 



r 5+10 

I 6- 60 

; 5+12 
L 6-138 



Depths of 
principal 

water- 
bearing 

strata. 



265-275 
465 5 '5 



65 
' 2S0-4S5 
2 So- 3 60 

250-400 
320-385 



J 540-560 



YIELD PER 
MINUTE. 



Flow. 



Galls. 



Small. 



Pump. 



Galls. 



Large. 



Geologic 
horizon 

of water- 
bearing 
strata. 



Sabine , 



. .do . . 
Cockfield. 



Sabine 



Quaternary 
. . .do . 



Sabine 

. .do . 

. . .do . 
. .do . 



. .do 
. .do 



Quality. 



Remarks. 



Sulphur- j 

eted. 1 
Iron . . Local resort . . 
Good . Casing, 188 feet. 



No. 



Alkaline 
. . do . 
Soft . . 

. . do . . 

Very soft 
Soft . . 

. . do . . 

. do . . 



.do 



Quaternary 



.do 
.do 



Catahoula 
. .do . . 



Good 
. . do . 



Soft. 
. do 



Drilled in 1891 . . . 

I Drilled in 1892; cas- 
ing 80 feet. 

Drilled in 1901 . . 

Temperature 71° F.; 
completed in 1892. 

Used for factory and 

drinking. 
Three wells 



Completed February, 
1903; second well 
on this farm. 



Palatable for drink- 
ing in some cases; 
used for machiriery 
on sugar and cotton 
plantation. 

All alluvial; water in 
sand and gravel. 

Water in .sand and 
gravel. 



Well No. 



914 
915 

916 
917 

918 

919 
920 



922 
923 

924 
925 

926 

927 

928 



931 

932 



933 
934 



4See "Descriptive notes." 
5ln 1898. 
^August 6, 1902. 



213 



I50 



GeoIv. Surv. IvA. Report of 1905 



[buli,. 4 



Wells and springs in 
LOUISIANA 



No. 



*936 
*937 



"939 
*940 



*94i 
942 



"943 
*944 



945 
946 



949 
*95o 

*95i 
*952 



954 
955 

*956 



Location. 



Town- 
ship. 



RAPIDES PARISH 

continued. 

j Alexandria (Water- 
1 works). I 

( Alexandria (corner- 
I Fourth and St.! 
( James streets). 
Alexandria (round 
house). 

f Alexandria (Sixth 
( and Monroe sts). 

. . . do. . . . . . 

Alexandria . . . 

Ball 

Boyce ..... 



4N. 



do. 
do. 



do. 
do. 



Lamothe 
Lecompte. 



Loyd . . 

Pineville 

do. . 

Rapides . 



. do. . . 

Richland . 
Springhill 



Zimmerman . 



4N. 

4N. 



f4N. 

4N. 

4N. 

5N. 
SN. 



SN. 

5N. 
sN. 



iN. 
4N. 
4N. 
5N. 

4N. 



Range. 



iW 



iW 
iW 

lE 
3W 

3W 
3W 

3W 

3W 



lE 

lE 
iW 
iW 
-.W 



4N. 



5N. 



4W 



3W 



Sec- 
tion. 



Owner. 



( Corporation of 
( Alexandria. 



do 



S t . Louis. Iron 
Mountain and 
Southern Rwy. 

[ Alexandria Ice and 
[ Storage Co. 

do ... . 
Sonia Cotton 
Co. 

Ball Sawmill Co. 
Texas and Pacific 
Rwy. 

. . do 



Oil 



Boyce Ice Manu- 
facturing Co. 



M. Grillette . . 
f Boyce Cotton Oil 
I and Manufactur 
( ing Co. 

L. C. Sanford . . 



Corporation of Le- 
compte. 

Postmaster . . . 



' Pineville Develop- 
ment Co. 

State Insane Asy- 
lum. 
C. A. Morrow . . 



General 



J. A. Bentley Lum- 
ber Co. 



do 



Driller. 



Andrews Well Co . 



. .do ...... . 

Hart Well Co . . 



- Andrews Well Co. 
Hart Well Co . . 



Shanks & Smith 
Hart Well Co . , 



Oscar Shanks. . 



Authority. 



(^) 

{^) 
L. B. Hart . . . , 

Jas. Drouant4 . , 

G. D. HarrisS . , 
Ira W. Sylvester 

Oscar Shanks . . , 
L. B. Hart . . . . 



do 



D. J. Heidrich , 



j H. P. Haynes, presi- 
I dent. 

L. C. Sanford . . . 

Ira W. Sylvester,con- 
sulting engineer. 

General 

F. S. Hoyt, president 

Oscar Shanks. . 

C. A. Morrow 

. . . do 



Postmaster . . 
J. A. Bentley. 



do 



*For additional data see "Descriptive notes," following this table. 

iSee "Descriptive notes." 

2ln 1898. 

3 August 6, igo2. 

4Foreman for Andrews Well Co. 



214 



veatch] 



Underground Water of Northern Louisiana 



'51 



northern Louisiana — Continued 

(NORTHERN)— Cotitinued 





Depth 
of well. 


Approxi- 
mate ele- 
vation of 
surface. 


Height 

of 
water 
above 
(-l-)or 
below 
(-) the 
ground. 


Depths of 
principal 
water- 
bearing 
strata. 


YIELD PER 
MINVTE. 


Geologic 
horizon 

of water- 
bearing 
strata. 


Quality. 


Remarks. 




Pia me- 
ter of 
well. 


Flow. 


Pump. 


No. 


Inches. 
10-4 


Feet. 
760 

606 

858 

580 

621-t- 
927 
no 

365 
300 

810 
302 

2S0 
279 

105 

125 


Feet. 
77 

76 
75 

77 

77 
77 


Feet. 

t J — no 

f2Flow 
I 3-49 

—60 


Feet. 
) 540 
V 620 
\ 760 

} . . . . 


Galls. 
70=fc 


Galls. 

121 


Catahouls 
. . .do . . 


Soft . 
. . do . . 


Well No. 2 


935 

936 
937 

93S 


6-4 
i 8 


J 

850 

f 480 
1 580 










Abandoned 

Abandoned 




60 


1 Catahoula 


Soft 


\ 8 








Flows. 


853-927 


125 


Large. 


Catahoula 
Quaternary. 


939 
940 

941 
942 




Hard. . 






145 

88 

8S 

ss 

88 

90 
75 


—60 

+ '5 

+ 18 
^+34 


310-365 
300 

f 300 

\ 802 

292-302 






Drilled in iSgg . . . 

Temperature, 60° F.; 

drilled in i8g8. 

j- Drilled in 1898 . . . 

Drilled in igoo; used 
for ice manufacture, 
casing 200 feet. 


7 




100 


Catahoula 
. . .do . . 


Soft . . 
. . do . 


6-4 






Catahoula? 
Catahoula 

do 


Brackish. 

Soft . . 

. . do . . 


943 


8 




30-). 


944 

945 
946 

947 
948 


j i% 


(-8 
i-i8 


1 9S-105 


1 '^: 


j... 

Large. 
100 -U 


. . .do . . 

Quaternary 
. . . do . . 


. . do . . 
Hard. . 


( Used for drinking 
^ only; completed in 

( 1899. 


6 


. . do . . 


Completed in 1 902; 
pronounced an ex- 
cellent water. 

Many large springs. 

Test wells for oil . . 














( 720 

\ 100 

( 230-1- 

1,020 
96-106 

323 
20-30 


\ 














950 
951 
952 




] 














2 


85 
85 


— 20 

f — 20 

1 IFlows 
I (?) 


94-104 

96 
108 
280 


.... 


Large. 
. .do . 


Quaternary 

. .do . . 

Catahoula 

. . .do . . 


Slightly 

hard. 

. . do . . 

Soft . . 
. . do . . 


Four wells completed 
in 1900. 

\ 

J 

Supplies watering 
tank of Zimmer- 
man, Leesville and 
Southern R. R. 
Temperature, August, 
1902, 58° F.; used 
for drinking only. 


2 






953 






















Quaternary 


Hard, al 
kaline. 

Soft . . 

. . do . . 


954 














955 


4 


175 


94 


9-I-25 


175 


f 920 
\ 10 2 




Catahoula 


956 



sWater-Sup. and Irr. Paper No. loi, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1904, p. 20. 

^Pressure stated to be 15 pounds when first drilled; lowers on pumping to — 40 feet; casing 200 feet long. 
• 7ln i8gg. 9ln 1897. 

^August 12, 1902. !<:' August, 1902. 



215 



152 



i 



Geol. Surv. La. Report of 1905 



[bui,i.. 4 



Wells and springs in 

LOUISIANA 



No. 



957 
958 



^959 
*96o 
gCi 



964 
965 



967 
968 

*969 



970 
*97i 



''972 
973 



976 
977 



»978 
979 



RED RIVER PARISH 

Coushatta 

Coushatta, lo miles 

east of. 
Coushatta .... 
Lake End .... 
Wilson 



RICHLAND PARISH 

Delhi 

Holly Ridge. . . . 



SABINE PARISH 

East Pendleton . 

. . do 

Loring 



Many 

Myricks Ferry 

Negreet . . . . 



Negreet Salt Works 
Noble 



Pleasant Hill , 
Plymouth . . . 



Zwolli. 



ST. LANDRY PARISH 

f Melville, 12 miles 
\ south of. 

TENSAS PARISH 

Buck Ridge . . . 
St. Joseph .... 



UNION PARISH 

Ouachita River 
(Loch Lomond) 

Randolph ... 



VERNON PARISH 

Hawthorne . . . 
Pickering .... 



Town- 
ship. 



iiN. 

14N. 



17N. 

17N. 



6N. 
6N. 
7N. 

7N. 

9N. 

SN. 

SN. 
8N. 

9N. 

7N. 



■,6S 



jaoN 
23N. 

3N. 



Range. 



9W 

9W 



9E 

8E 



14W 
13W 
12W 

iiW 

14W 



13W . 
13W 

12 w, 

I2W , 

I3W 



7E 



3E 
3W 

9W 



Sec- 
tion. 



Owner. 



General 



— Armstead 
Atkins Bros 



Cotton gin .... 
Vic k sburg,|Shreve. 

port and Pacific 

Rwy. 



Salt works .... 

do 

Bowman- Hicks 

Lumber Co. 
J. T. Sirmon . . . 



Driller. 



Chas. Stoer. . . 
Stoer & Backus. 



D. M. Foster 



L.B.Clifford Well 
Co. 



D. M. Foster. 



Authority. 



Postmaster . . 
J. W. Martin. 

Chas. Stoer. . 
Chas. Stoer. . 
J. W. Martin. 



Mrs. A. K. Hawley. 
R. B Coxe, superin- 
tendent water divi- 



A C. Veatch2 
do 



W. A. Shields, super- 
intendent. 

Dan Vandegaer, par- 
ish surveyor. 

E. W. Hilgard4. . . 



D. M. Foster. 



Trigg Lumber Co. 

John Ferrell . . . 

i B o w m a n - Hicks 
[ Lumber Co. I 

H.J. Allen Lumber 
Co. I 



Latannier Oil Co. 



L.B.Clifford Well 
Co. 



L.B. Clifford Well 
Co. 



— Kelley 
General . 



U.S. Eng. test bor- 
ing. 

Summit Lumber 
Co. 



Lumber company 
. . do 



Oscar Shanks. 



L. B. Clifford Well 
Co. 



A. C. Veatch2 
L. B. Clifford 



Dr. O. LerchS 
• G. S. Smiths . 



- Coxe, superinten- 
dent. 



Oscar Shanks. 



F. L. Maxwell . 
A. Blanche. . . 



M. H. Marshall? , 
I L. B. Clifford 



-Pickering . . 



*For additional data see "Descriptive notes," following this table. 

I Also reported 3C0 feet. 

^Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1992, p. 30. 
3See "Descriptive notes." 
4Supplement ary and Final Report of a Geological Reconnoissance of Louisiana, New Orleans, 1873, p. 22. 



216 



r 



VHATCH 



Underground Water of Northern Louisiana 



153 



northern Louisiana — Continued 

-NORTHERN)— Continued 





Depth 
of well. 


Approxi- 
mate ele- 
vation of 
surface. 


Height 

water 

above 
(-f-)or 
below 
(-) the 
ground. 


Depths of 
principal 
water- 
bearing 
strata. 


YIELD PBK 
MINUTE. 


Geologic 
horizon 

of water- 
bearing 
strata. 


Quality. 


Remarks. 




Diame- 
ter of 
well. 


Flow. 


Pump. 


No. 


Inches. 


Feet. 
25-50 
Spring. 


Feet. 


Feet. 


Feet. 


Galls. 


Galls. 


Quaternary. 


Hard 




957 
958 

959 














Brine. . 


Sail spring, with gas. 




1 140 
287.5 
Shallow 

825 ± 
64 

Shallow 
. .do . 












4-2^ 


127 

95 

88 


—24 








Sabine . . 
. . .do . 


Brackish 
















Flows. 








Sabine . . 
Quaternary. 


Brackish 
Hard. . 




962 
963 

964 
965 
966 

967 

968 

969 

970 
971 

972 
973 

974 


—24 


24-62 




100 




Brine . 

. . do . . 

Soft . . 

Good . 

Brine . 


Abandoned salt works 

do 

Water from 11 differ- 
ent sand beds. 
Used in boiler . . . 

Salt and soda works 
• during the war. 

Temperature, 70'^ F. 

Abandoned salt works 












Sabine . . 


6 
8 
4 

1 ' 

'8-6' 


704 

no 

Shallow 

630 

Shallow 
400 

22 

521 

120 

'95 

2.'03 

135 
lOO 135 

50 
1 206 

280 


285 


— loo 

—60 


(3) 




30 










173 

275 


f- 8 
1 + 18 


.67 
212 
350 
630 


30 


r 

\ . . 
I 






Brine . 




160 




Fair. 








Ferrell's mineral well 

\ 

I 


277-5 

203 

203 


— 100 

— 12 

— 16 

Flows. 


( 360-380 
418-430 

( 492-520 
100-120 

t 100-120 

( 190 

j 537-555 
i 1450-2000 


(■ • • ■ 

Large. 
. .do . 


25 

55 
55 


Sabine . . 

. . .do . . 
. . .do . . 


f Salty: 
\ alk'line 

Pure, soft 
Sulphur 

Good . 


j 
I 






975 


1 




Large. 
. .do . 


Quaternary 


976 
977 

978 
979 

980 
981 














( 48.8 
1 47.5 
140 


} 














( 8FI0W 
( 9—16 


> 200-206 






Cockfield. 
Catahoula 


I Slightly 
( alk'line 


1 Two wells. 






740 


223 








None. 







SGeology and Agriculture of Louisiana, pt. 2, 1894, op. 118, 119. 
^Foreman for L. B. Clifford Well Co. 
7Rept. Chief of Eng. for 1902, p. 1566. 
^In 1901. 
9ln 1902. 

217 



154 



Geoi.. Surv. L,a. Report of 1905 



[BULIv. 4 



Wells and springs in 

LOUISIANA 



No. 


Location. 


Town- 
ship. 


Range. 


Sec- 
tion. 


Owner. 


Driller. 


Authority. 


*982 
984 


WEBSTER PARISH 

Bistineau Salt 

Works. 
Cotton Valley . . . 


18N. . 
21N. . 


loW . 








A. C. Veatchi . . . 
L. B. Clifford . . . 


loW . 




Valley Lumber Co. 


L. B. Clifford Well 
Co. 






984A 

'9^5 

*986 
987 

*988 


Long Springs . . . 
Minden 

. . .do 

do 

... do 

Spring Hill .... 
Yellow Pine. . . . 

WEST BATON ROUGE 
PARISH 

Baton Rouge Junc- 
tion. 
Lobdell 

WEST CARROLL 
PARISH 

Floyd . . . 


19N. . 
19N.. 

19N. . 
19N. . 

39N. . 

23N. . 

17N. . 

8S . . 
7S.. 


9W . 
9W . 

9W . 
9W 

9W . 
II W . 


6 
21 

21 






' L. B.' Clifford ' ". '. 

... do 

... do 


Minden Lumber 
Co. 
... do 

Minden steam laun- 
dry. 

Minden Cotton Oil 
and Ice Co. 

( Pine Woods Lum- 
] ber Co. 

Globe Lumber Co. 

Texas and Pacific 
Rwy. 
... do 


L.B.Clifford Well 
Co. 

... do 

. . do 




S. G. Webb, presi- 
dent. 

1 L. B. Clifford . . . 

A. L. Pullin .... 

Chas. Anderson, 
pump man. 

B. S. Wathen, chief 
engineer. 

Postmaster 

A. C. Veatchs . . . 

A. C. Veatchs . . . 

North Louisiana 

Lumber Co. 
J. M. Phillips . . . 

L. B. Clifford . . . 
... do 


*989 
*9go 

*99i 


L. B. Clifford Well 
Co. 

A. L. Pullin . . . 


9W . 
12E . 


7 


12E . 














*994 

*995 
996 
997 

998 


WINN PARISH 

Drakes Salt Works^ 

Prices Salt Works . 

Pyburn 

Tannehill 

Winnfield 


12N. . 

13N. . 

13N. . 
12N. . 


sw . 

Isw . 
UW . 

3W . 
3W . 


( 20-21 
\ 28-29 

2S 
30 

34 
22 


I 




) 

\ 




1 
North Louisiana 

Lumber Co. 
Hall&Legin. . . 

Winnfield ice fac- 
tory. 


J. M. Phillips . . 

L.B.Clifford Well 

Co. 
. do 


999 


Winnfield, 2 miles 
south of (Cedar 
Lick). 














Pine Tree Lumber 




Pine Tree Lumber 
Co. 












Co. 





*For additional data see "Descriptive notes," following this table. 
^Geol. Survey Louisiana, Kept, of 1902, pp. 81-99. 
=See also No. 904, Goldonna, Natchitoches Parish. 

218 



vh.\tch] 



Underground Water of Northern Louisiana 



155 



northern Louisiana — Continued 

(NORTHERN)-Continued. 



Diame- 
ter of 
well. 


Depth 
of well. 


Approxi- 
mate ele- 
vation of 
surface. 


Height 

water 
above 
'+) or 
beiow 
(-) the 
ground. 


Depths of 
principal 
water- 
bearing 
strata. 


YIELD PER 
MINUTE. 

Flow. Pump. 


Geologic 
horizon 

of water- 
bearing 
strata. 


Quality. 


Remarks. 


No. 


Inches 


Feet 
10-15 

271 


Feet 
140 

220 


Feet 


Feet 


Gail. 


Gall. 


Nacatoch. 
Sabine . . 


Brine . 
Soft . . 


Salt made from 1850 

to IJ'92. 


982 
983 
984 

984 A 

985 

986 
987 

988 

989 
990 


4 


-48 


245-271 




55 


Sulphur- 

reted. 

Iron . . 

Soft . . 

. . do . . 






. .do . 














Local resort ... 
Used for sawmill and 
drinking. 


6 


317 

247 
351 

I IS 

36S 
i,oi5=fc 

i:o 
40 


192 
192 

190 

235 
igo 


-28 

—28 
-48 

— 8 

(-14 
I-28 


247-317 

247 




"5 
no 


Sabine . . 
. . .do . . 




. . .do . . 






8 

3 
4-3 


100-115 

228-270 
338-368 


} 


SO 


. . .do . . 
. .do . . 


Soft; iron 
Soft . . 


Temperature, 65.3°F. . 

I Temperature, 66" F.; 
■< lower horizon not 
( developed. 
Abandoned 

Well fluctuates with 


i 






no 




Large. 
. .do . 


Quaternary 
. . .do . . 


Good . 

Poor; hard 

Brine . 
. . do . . 
. . do . . 

. . do . . 








the river. | 












Small. 
Large. 


. . .do . . 

Quaternary4 

Cretaceous 
Quaternary4 


gravel. 

Saltworks 1800-186?. 

Temperature, 75° F.. 
Saltworks 1840 -1869. 

Two wells .... 

Water lowers 7 feet 
when pumping 60 
gallons per minute 


993 


1 • • • 














Flow. 

+ 35 






1 994 

995 

996 
997 

ou8 


( 10 1 I,OII 
. . . . fi-ie 




18 




1 6 


1 600 =t 
270 

700 
268 -t- 


210 
120 

120 


— 18 
— 10 


140-270 _ 






\ 4 
4 




60 


. . .do . . 
. . .do . . 


Soft . . 
. . do . . 
















20 to 490 feet. 1 
Large amount of gas.' 999 

Too much quick.sand; ,„„„ 




210 


— 00 


( 60 


t ' 

















sGeol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, pp. 51-64. 
•♦Leaks from the Cretaceous beds into the bottom-land silts. 
SGeol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, pp. 64-70. 



219 



DESCRIPTIVE NOTES 

758. It is reported that this well interferes with the railroad well about 
one-fourth mile distant. Used iu boiler, the water forms a large amount of 
scale, but the addition of a little kerosene is found to furnish almost com- 
plete relief. 

Analysis of loater front well of Union Oil Company at Bunkie, Avoyelles 

Parish, La. 

[By E. W. Brundage J 

Parts per million. 

Sodium chloride (Na CI) 39 5 

Sodium sulphate (Na,SO^) 7. i 

Sodium carbonate (Na^COj) .... 15.5 

Potassium carbonate ( k^COj) 1.2 

Magnesium carbonate ( MgCOj) 183.8 

Calcium carbonate (CaCO,) 291.4 

Silicon dioxide (silica) (SiO^) 30 o 

Oxides of iron and aluminum { Fe,0, AIJO3) 23.0 

Orgair'c matter .... 148.0 

Total 739.5 

"Characteristics: Odor suggestive of hydrogen sulphide; clear, turbid on 
standing; considerable sediment. Tes" with litmus: alkaline." 

759. Section of well of Bunkie Ice and Bottling Company, Bunkie, 

Avoyelles Parish, La. 

Quaternary (Port Hudson ) : Peet. 

1 . Red clay o- 70 

2. Quicksand 70- 115 

3. Gravel 1 1 5- 140 

762A. Mr. T. L. Grimes reports: "I had the water from my well analyzed 

by Professor Calwell, of Tulane University, who reported that it contained 
a little scda, a little magnesia, some lime, and a trace of iron and sulphuric 
acid. He did not make a quantitative analysis. A well was bored a few 
miles from me last year that behaved quite strangely. The curbing was 
gotten down 64 feet by pumping out sand and letting it sink of its own 
weight, and then it refused to sink any deeper. When they quit work at 
night there was 4 feet of water in the well, but next morning the water 
could be dipped from the top with a cup held iu the hand. There were 
constant noises like the escape of gas, and the height of the water changed 
often, though it was not affected by the stage of water in the river. The 



158 Geol. Surv. L.A. Report of 1905 [bui.l. 4 

well finally caved in. This well was bored in the center of one of the num- 
erous mounds that are all over this section of the State on the Bluff (Port 
Hudson) formation." 

765. Record of well of Natchez and Marksville ^ Oil Company, Jlfarksville, 
Avoyelles Pa7-ish, La. 

[By A. W. Myers, driller.] 

1. Red clay, with ferruginous concretions. .. . 

2. Fine red sand , . . . 

3. Reddish sand and gravel containing good, 

fresh water ........ . 

4. Soft sand rock 

5. Coarse sand and pebbles 

6. Reck 

7. Medium red sand 

8. Loose rock and bowlders . . 

9. Sand and gravel about the size of a pea .... 

10. Red clay 

I r. Fine red sand 

12. Coarse sand 

13. Red clay 

14. Rock.. . 

15. Red sand and c\3.y 

16. Blue sand and gravel 

17. Fine sand and gravel 

18. Sticky blue clay and bowlders 

19. Blue clay, with black particles 

20. Red gumbo ( stiff cla}') 

2 r . Black gumbo 

22. Blue clay 

23. Medium white sand 

24. Blue gumbo 

25. Blue clay, with mica 



26 Medium white sand . , 

27. Blue shale 

28. Very coarse sand (red, white, and blue) 

29. Blue and red gumbo 

30. Blue shale 

31. Blue gumbo 

32. Blue shale 

33. Sticky blue clay 

34 Rock , 

35. Blue sticky clay and shale. 



Fee 


t. 


- 


18 


18 - 


42 


42 - 


132 


132 - 


136 


136 - 


158 


158 - 


158.5 


158.5- 


174 


174 - 


177 


177 - 


193 


193 - 


199 


199 - 


2C6 


206 - 


214 


214 - 


222 


222 - 


222 5 


222.5- 


232 


232 - 


243 


243 - 


259 


259 - 


3i« 


318 - 


333 


333 - 


337 


337 - 


360 


360 - 


380 


380 - 


390 


390 - 


405 


405 - 


417 


417 - 


425 


425 - 


452 


452 - 


523 


523 - 


623 


623 - 


631 


631 - 


645 


645 - 


663 


663 - 


697 


697 - 


698 


698 - 


736 



I 



vkatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 159 

36. Brown clay and sand 736 - 796 

37. Blue and red gumbo 796 - 806 

38. Blue clay and sand 806 - 822 

39. Blue clay, rather bard 822 - 827 

40. Coal (lignite) 827 - 827,5 

41. Blue gumbo 827.5- 847 

42. White rock 847 - 849 

43. Blue and red gumbo 849 - 855 

44. Gumbo and bowlders, almost black 855 - 926 

45. Sand and gravel 926 - 976 

46. Sand and bowlders 976 -1,016 

47. Sand, with pieces of wood. 1,016 -1,034 

48. Alternate layers of sand and rock i,034 -1,062 

49. Sand, gravel, and bowlders 1,062 -1,146 

50. Impure limestone 1,146 -1,147 

51. Blue saud 1,147 -^,205 

52. Lime rock 1,205 -I1207 

53. Very dark clay 1,207 -1,280 

54. Ciay with iron pyrites 1,280 -1,282 

Total depth December 12, 1902, 1,282 teet; casing 320 feet. In water well 

screen is placed from 70 to a 100 feet below the surface. There is an 
abundant supply of water, but it is not very soft. 

766. Around Marksville water is generally reached between 40 and 45 
feet but the supply is not permanent. Below a thin bed of blue clay at 
about 65 feet a very good supply is reached, which yields slightly hard 
water in large quantities. 

767. No complete information is available concerning this well. Accord- 
ing to the drillers it was 800 feet deep, but it was sounded by Mr. C. B. 
Couvillion, parish surveyor, about two years after its completion in 1896 and 
found to be 290 feet deep. As neither the quality nor the supply of water 
from the well had changed, and the bottom encountered at 290 feet was 
entirely solid, he concluded that this represented the total depth of 
the well. 

Mr. H. P. Touzet, foreman in charge of the work, writes: "I left the well 
after driving the 6-inch casing down 200 feet to blue clay. There is an 
abundance of water to be found about Marksville at depths of 80 to 200 feet. 
I have no written record referring to the well, but as far as I can remember 
my successors abandoned the work at a depth of 500 feet, after having 
bored to that depth with a 4-inch pipe without locating water below the 
6-inch casing." 

G. D. Harris' reports: "At a depth of 230 feet a 5-foot stratum of lignite 
was penetrated. Mouth of well, 0.3 foot above railroad station, hence 
approximately 82 feet above tide. 

"The gravel bed found between 100 and 160 feet is very much like the 



I Water-Sup. and Irr. Paper No. loi, United States Geological Survey, 1904, p. 54. 

223 



i6o Geol. Surv. La. Report of 1905 [bui.i.. 4 

gravel found in the wells in the southwestern Louisiana rice fields. A seam 
of black clay and lignite was found at 160 feet. The gravel below the 
lignite was heavily charged with pyrites." It is doubtless from this layer 
that the water is obtained. 

768. Section of well of Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railway., 

Arcadia, Bienville Parish, La. 

[By H. P, Touzet.] 

Feet. 

1. Yellow and red clay 0-30 

2. Coarse white sand 30- 40 

3. Blue clay 40-100 

4. Fine blue sand loo-i 10 

5. Blue clay 1 10-150 

6. Water-bearing gray sand 150-165 

7. Calcareous rock 165-175 

8. Blue clay ; 175-275 

9. Calcareous reck 275-290 

10. Blue clay, mixed with broken rock • • • • 290-415 

11. Fine white sand 415-465 

12. Hard blue clay 465-525 

13. Calcareous rock 525-530 

14. Very stiff white clay 530-535 

15. Blue sand 535-540 

16. Blue clay 540- 

769. Analysis of water from mineral well' of Dr. f. C. Christian, 

Arcadia, Bienville Parish, La.^ 

[By Maurice Bird. J 

Parts per million. 

Soluble silica 1,114.9 

Iron and alumina 226.7 

Ivime 573.9 

Magnesia 540.2 

Potash 1 1. 6 

Soda 520 

Chlorine 1,647.7 

Sulphuric acid i, 538-5 

"Mainly sulphates and chlorides of alumina, lime, magnesia, and soda." 

770. Section of well of fohn Gigleux, Jamestown, Bienville Parish, La. 

Feet. 

1. Surface o- 18 

2. Shell marl, with many Ostrea sellaefoimis {Q\&\\)OX\\Q)\'i- 30 
3 Black clay 30- 90 

4. Dark-colored clay, weathering white 90-100 

5. Dark sand and clay 100-142 

6. Sand, water bearing 142-145 

224 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern I^a. i6i 

771. ^Inalysis of brine from Kings Salt Works, Bienville Parish, La.' 

[By Maurice Bird.] 

Per cent. 

Sodium chloride 6.94 

Calcium sulphate .01 

Calcium chloride .152 

Magnesium chloride .135 

Alumina . 148 

Other solids .065 



772. Analysis of brine from Rayburns Salt Works, Bienville Parish, La. * 

[By Maurice Bird.] 

Per cent. 

Sodium chloride , 4.60 

Sodium sulphate .022 

Calcium sulphate .322 

Magnesium sulphate .029 

Alumina .061 

Other solid matter, partly in suspension .03 

774. Air lift brings from well fine dark-gray sand, with occasional white 
quartz grains as large as grains of wheat, and numerous particles of white 
clay. 

Dump heap is, for the most part, fine gray sand, similar to theShreveport 
water sand. It shows the following succession of strata: 

1. Red clay, 

2. Dark-colored clay, 

3. Chocolate-colored clay. 

4. Gray or greenish-gray sand. 



776. Section of well of Antrim Lumber Company, Anttim, Bossier' 

Parish, La. 



[By L. B. Clifford.] 



Sabine: 



Feet. 



1. Yellow clay, passing below into blue clay 0-44 

2. Lignite of good quality 44- 4S 

3. Blue clay ; 48-160 

4. Water-bearing sand 160-263 

5. Sand and clay, no water 263-300 



^Geology and Agriculture of I^ouisiaoa, pt. 2, 1892. p. 47. (See'page 160) 
3Geological Survey Louisiana Report of 1902, p. 80. 
4 Geological Survey Louisiana Report of 1902, p. 75. 

409 



i62 Geol. Surv. La. Report of 1905 [buli.. 4 
778. Section of well of W, H. Smith & Son, Benton, Bossier Parish, La. 

[By J. p. Clifford.] 

Sabine, Feet. 

1. Slate-colored clay 0-122 

2. Gray rock , 122-124 

3. Stiff, hard clay 124-140 

4. Mahogany-colored clay 140- 

5. Water-bearing sand. 

6. "Coal" (lignite) -350 

It is reported that this well flowed for a short time. 

782t Partial section of well of S. H. Bolinger & Co., Bolinger, Bossier 

Parish, La. 

[By h. B. Clifford.] 

Claiborne and Sabine: Feet. 

1. Yellow cla)"-. o- 14 

2. Sand rock 14- 16 

3. Yellow clay 16- 

4. Blue clay -162 

5. Water-bearing sand 162-235 

6. Dark-colored sand and clay, no water ., 235-315 

783. Section of well at Cash plantation, j miles north of Bossier City, 
Bossier Parish, La. 

[By A. I,. Pullin.] 

Quaternary (Port Hudson) : Feet. 

1. Clay, passing below into fine gravel, containing 

hard water 0-130 

Sabine: 

2. Blue clay 130-155 

3. Sand, containing hard water 155-160 

4. Blue clay 160-180 

5. Sand, with bad water 180-185 

6. Blue clay 185-225 

7. Lignite 225- 

8. Blue clay -300 

9. Brown clay 300-315 

10, Water sand; water rises to within 35 feet of surface 315-330 

781. Section of well of Benj. Gray, 2}^ miles north of Bossier City, 
Bossier Parish, La. 

[By .A. L. Pullin.] 

Quaternary (Port Hudson): Feet. 

1. Soil 0.0- 10 o 

2. Soft red sand; becomes coarser and passes 

into large gravel 10. o- 76.0 

410 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 163 

Sabine: 

3. Rock (probably a limestone concretion) 76.0- 79.5 

4. Blue clay, with layer of lignite at 160 feet 79.5-300.0 

5. Water-bearing sand (water flowed over top of 

pipe when well was first sunk) 300.0-330.0 

785. Section of well of Shreveport Cotton-Oil Company, Bossier City, 
Bossier Parish, La. 

Quaternary (Port Hudson): Keet. 

1. Surface clay, sand and gravel 0-80 

Sabine: 

2. Blue clay, with occasional thin layers of sand. . . 80-225 

3. Water-bearing sand 225-235 

4. Blue clay, containing no water 235-600 

786. Six-inch pipe, 0-70.5 feet; four-inch pipe. 70.5-168 feet. The six- 
inch pipe passes through the Quaternary into the Sabine clays. 



788. Section of well of Will Sent ell, Lake Point Just above Cedar Bluff, 
Bossier Parish, La. 

Quaternary (Port Hudson): Feet. 

1. Surface clay, passing below into sand and coarse 

gravel 0-120 

Sabine: 

2. Blue clay 120-232 

3. Fine sand, containing good soft water 232-240 

4. Dark-colored clay, containing no water 240-600 

Completed in 1902. Water lowers readily on pumping. 

795. The gravel bed which usually lies at the base of the Quaternary 
deposits is in this well represented by a coarse sand. No lignite was 
encountered. 



796. Section of well of fohn Glassell, at Belcher, Caddo Parish, La. 

[By A. \,. Pullin.] 

Quaternary (Port Hudson): Feet. 

1. Surface clays, passing below into fine gravel. ... c- 96 
Sabine: 

2. Clay 96-213 

3. Water sand, not passed through 213-225 

797. It is reported that the water is at one time soft and at another time 
hard; this is probably due to a leak in the pipe, which permits the water 
from the surface gravel to mingle with that in the Sabine sands. 

411 



164 Geoi,. Surv. lyA. Report of 1905 [bui.i,. 4 

799. Section of well of M. A. & J. D. Dickson, Dixie, Caddo Parish, La. 
Quaternary (Port Hudson): Feet. 

1. Red sand c- 6 

2. Red buckshot claj' 6-12 

3. Red sandy soil, becoming coarser below and 

passing into coarse sand 12- 60 

Sabine: 

4. Blue clay 60-219 

5. White sand, water bearing 219-225 

Sabine and Midway?: 

6. Blue clay, with occasional rock 225-371 

Well completed November, 1902. 

800. Section of well of John Sentell, Cairo plantation, 2^ miles east of 

Dixie, Caddo Parish, La. 

[By A. L. Pullin.] 
Quaternary (Port Hudson): Feet. 

1. Red sand o- 6 

2. Buckshot clay 6- 12 

3. Red sandy soil, becoming coarser below and 

passing into coarse sand containing water. ... 12-85 

Sabine: 

4. Soft white clay 85-160 

5. White clay, changing gradually to dark brown 

and passing into lignite 160-170 

6. White sand, water bearing 170-182 

A test well put down at this place reached a depth of 391 feet without 
developing water. A second well, a few feet distant, however, obtained 
water between 170 and 182 feet. 

Well completed April, 1902. 

801. Partial section of well of Glassell & Adger, Sodo Lake, j miles 

southwest of Dixie, Caddo Parish, La. 

[By A. L. Pullin.] 

Feet. 

1. Overflow sand from Cottonwood Bayou. 0-3 

2. Clay 3 -II 

3. Soft red sand 11 -41 

4. White milky clay, mixed with white sand and 

gravel, with little or no water 41 -121 

5. Hard brown clay 121 -131 

6. Hard blue clay 131 -255 

7. Hard blue rock 255 -278.5 

8. Hard black clay 278 5-283.3 

412 



i 



k 



veatch] Underground VVa.tkr of Northern La. 165 

9. Hard brown clay 283.3-294.3 

10. Dark-gray clay 294.3-310.3 

11. Liglit-gray bard rock 3x0.3-311 

12. Dark clay 311 -364 



802. Furrh & Co. report that a very small amount of hard water was 
obtained. The driller reports shell marl at about 500 feet. Well drilled in 
1894. 

803. Three-inch casing, 0-132 feet; 2-inch casing, 132-290 feet; 2-inch 
screens placed at 152-158 and 262-270 feet. Very sandy material from 152 
to 290 feet. Well first flowed at 270 feet. 



804. General section of wells in Red River Valley below Shreveport, 
Caddo Parish, La.^ 

[By A. 1,. Pulliti.] 
Quaternary (Port Hudson): Thickness in feet. 

1. Red soil; sandy loam 4- 10 

2. Red clay and sand, waterbearing. This stratum 

is clayey above and becomes more sandy below. 
The lower 5 to 10 feet are quick-sand. This 
layer is the source of the highly mineral water 
which is obtained in the driven wells 45- 60 

3. Gravel and sand. Firmly bedded, so much so 

that it is impossible to drive a pipe into it. 
The gravel sometimes reaches the size of a 
goose egg. White chert and quartz pebbles are 
common. The gravel is largest at the top and 
gradually grows finer until at the base of the 
stratum it grades into a fine white sand 20- 40 

Sabine: 

4. Soft gray sandy clay, containing vegetable 

remains and occasional shells 8-16 

5. Fine white sand 0-40 

6. Hard tenacious blue clay, called "rubber clay," 

containing scattered iron concretions about the 

size of a pea ; 40-1 32 

7. Indurated sand, water bearing. Furnishes an 

abundant supply of soft water. W^ater from 
this stratum generally rises to within 10 or 20 
feet of the surface. 

SGeological Survey lyOuisiana, Report for 1899 [:9oo], pp. 179-180 

413 



i66 Geol. Surv. La. Report of 1905 [bui.1.. 4 

805. Section of well of Captain Robson, Robson, Caddo Parish, La.'' 

[By A. L. PulHn.] 

Quaternary (Alluvium and Port Hudson): Feet. 

1. Red sandy loam o- 4 

2. Fine red clay, with sand 4-79 

3. Red sand, water bearing 79- 82 

4. Gravel and sand, same as 3 in well No. 804 82-106 

Sabine 

5. Ivignitiferous clay with shells 106-1 18 

6. Brown lignite 1 18-12 r 

7. Good black lignite 12 1-123 

8. "Soapstone," soft white friable clay. 123-130 

9. Very hard blue limestone 130- 131 

10. Hard black lignite 131-135 

1 1 . Blue clay 135-225 

12. Water sand, not passed through 225- 

806. According to the best information obtained from several sources 
and from the sections in adjacent wells, the strata penetrated in this well 
are as fo'lows: 

Section of deep test well of Shreveport Tee Company, Market Street and Cross 
Bayou, Shreveport, Caddo Parish, La. 

Sabine: Feet. 

1. Dark-colored clays, with lignite c-200 

2. Gray sand, water bearing 200-250 

Midway and Arkadelph'a: 

3. Blue clay, with occasional hard streaks of rock; 

no water 250-96 1 

Nacatoch : 

4. Very hard quartzitic rock 961- 

5. Soft sandstone, with occasional hard rock; furn- 

ishes artesian salt water with gas -996 

The gas from stratum 5 is used to light the ice factory. Temperature of 
water, August 22, 1902, 84° F. The water used by the ice company is 
obtained from three wells developing stratum 3, 

807. Section of test well of Shreveport Waterworks Company, Shreveport, 

Caddo Parish, La. 

[By H. F. Juengst] 

Feet. 

1. Yellow clay o - 38 

2. Lignite 38 - 43 

3. Yellow clay 43 - 55 

4- Sand 55 - 57. 

6 Ibid., pp.j8o-i8i 

414 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern L,a. 167 

5. Blue clay 57 - 62 

6. Black clay 62 - 65 

7. Lignite 65 -70 

8. Blue clay 70 -105 

9. Clay and sand 105 -115 

10. Blue clay 115 -135 

11. Yellow clay 135 -160 

12. Blue sand and clay 160 -165.5 

13. Blue clay 165.5-190.5 

14. Lignite 1^0.5-193.5 

15. Yellow clay 193-5-218.5 

16. Sand 218.5-228.5 

17. Blue clay 228.5-244 

Casing, 6-inch, 0-80 feet; 4j^-incb, 80-136 feet. An attempt was niac'e 
to retest the well in 1902, but yielded no results. As the depth to water was 
at that time only 14 feet, the well had probably caved in and the water-bear- 
ing strata had been entirely cut off. 

Analysis of water from test wellof Shreveport Waterworks Company, 
Shteveport, Caddo Parish, La. 

[By Francis C. Phillips.] 

Parts per million. 
Total solids 600 

Hardness, expressed in parts per 1,000,000, of car- 
bonate of lime 168 

Hardness after boiling one-half hour 154 

Chlorine 94 

Nitrogen as nitrates None 

Nitrogen as nitrites None 

Free ammonia .38 

Albuminoid ammonia .04 

Oxygen required. , 1.38 

808. The drillers report 83 feet of 4-inch casing, 44 feet of 2^-inch cas- 
ing, and 15 feet of screen, indicating that a portion of the supply is from 
above 142 feet. The drilling of this well was carefully watched by Mr, S. Y. 
Snyder, who has furnished the following report: 

Section of well of Henry Rose, Shreveport, Caddo Parish, La. 

[By S. Y. Snyder.] 

Feet. 

1. Clay and sand 0-40 

2. Dark-blue clay 40- 50 

3. Yellow clay 5c- 65 

4. Quicksand, water bearing 65 - 71 

415 



i68 Geol. Surv. La. Report of 1905 [bui,l. 4 

5. Hard blue clay 71-150 

6. Sand, water bearing 150-165 

7. No record 165-175 

3. Lignite ^75-177 

9. Sand 177-272 

10, Rock ... 272 

812. The drillers report 4-incli casing, o-So feet; 2^ inch casing, 80-169 
feet; lo-foot screen, 99-109 feet; 15-foot screen, 148-163 feet; total depth, 
324 feet. Completed July, 190 1. Cost, I700. 

817. Wells Nos. i and 2 have 80 feet of 9-inch casing, 60 feet of 4 inch casing 
and 12 feet of 4-inch screen at the bottom. Well No. 3 has 80 feet of 6-inch 
casing and 60 feet of 4-inch casing; no screen. 

829. Mr. Mayer reports: "In all the wells in this region water rises to 
within about 15 feet of the surface, is very soft, and free of alkali. It 
remains pure as crystal at all times, pleasantly cool, and of the same tem- 
perature the year round, and extremely wholesome. If allowed to stand 
exposed to the atmosphere and under ordinary atmospheric temperature it 
emits an odor of sulphurated hydrogen; no physical change is apparent. The 
water rises from a stratum of beach sand." 

SS2t Sedlon of well of A. H. Leonard on Bayou Pierre, 10 miles southeast 
of Shreveport, Caddo Parish, La. 

[By T. C. Backus ] 
Quaternary (Port Hudson): Feet. 

1. Sandy clay 0-40 

2. Sand and gravel 40- 70 

Sabine: 

3. Dark -blue clay 70-130 

4. No record 130 

5. Water sand 205 

Casing, 2^-iuch, 0-80 feet; i^-inch, 80-120 feet. 

834. Section of well in sec. /, T. 20 N., R.16 JV., Caddo Parish, La. '' 
Port Hudson : Feet. 

1. Fine loamy sand 0-4 

2. Yellow and gray mottled clay, post-oak clay 4-1 1 

3. Red clay, with calcareous concretions in lower 

part 1 1-29 

4. Blue mud, with vegetable matter and mussel 

shells . . ; 29-46 

5. P'ine blue sand, not passed through 46-55 

7 Geological Survey Louisiana, Report for 1899 [1900], p. 190. 

416 



Feet. 


C- 


8 


8- 


15 


15- 


20 


20- 


35 


35- 


60 


60- 


70 


70- 


190 


19c- 


198 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 169 

835. Section of gin zcell, I ni, Caddo /'iiris/i, Im. 

[By A L. PulliiiJ 
Quaternar)' 

1. Stiff red clay 

2. Fine red sand .... 

3. Bucksbot soil 

4. Very fine yellow sand 

5. White sand, gradually becoming coarser 

6. Fine gravel, size of grain of corn, water hearing 
Sabine: 

7. Blue clay 

8. Dry white sand 

Sabine and Midway?: 

9. Brown clay 1 98-348 

Midway?: 

10. Shell marl 348-400 

Arkadelpbia. 

11. Dark-gray clay 40C-650 

A second well was drilled to the same depth without obtaining water. 

837. Section of test boritig in Ouachita River near E lank ston, Caldwell 
Parish, La. {143-5 miles above mouth of Black River.)^ 

Depth in feet. 

1 . Stiff red clay 0.0 

2. Sandy clay 19.7 

3. Coarse gray sand, with small percentage of clay. . . 22.4 

4. Gray sand 26.3 

5. Black sand and clay 51.2 

Sections of test borings in Ouachita River neat Blankston, Caldzvell Parish^ 
f^a.(i44.5 miles above mouth of Black River). ^ 

BORING No. 16 

1. Brown sand, with small percentage of clay 0.0 

2. Gray sand, with some clay 27 89 

3. Stiff" clay, with some sand 50. 

BORING No. 17. 

1. Dark-gray sand and clay 0.0 

2. Sand and clay 16.41 

3. Gray sand and clay 19 69 

4. Stiff, sticky blue clay, with small percentage of 

sand 43.38 

5. Stiff and very sticky blue clay 50. 



8 Annual Report Chief of Engineers for 1902, pt. 2, 1902 p. 1563. 

9 Ibid., p. 1563. 

417 



ryo Geoi.. SuKV IvA. Report of 1905 [bui,i,. 4 

BORING No. 17a. 

1. Sand and clay o.o 

2. Brown sand 1.65 

3. Gray sand 13.13 

4. Gray sand, with small percentage of clay 34-29 

5. Gray sand, with larger percentage of clay 42.66 

6. Gray sand, with still larger percentage of clay ... 50. 

888. Section of well 0/ Clark Spur Lumber Company near Chrks, Caldwell 

Parish, La. > 

(By Oscar Shanks.) 

, • Feet. 

1. Clay 1-130 

2. Pepper-and-salt water sand 130-145 

3. Clay, white and sticky 145-208 



840. Section of well of Clark Spur Lumber Company near Clarks , Caldwell 

Parish, La. 

(By Oscar Shanks.) 

Feet. 

1. Clav I-1 10 

2. Water sand, red in color 1 10-150 



841. Section ot well at Columbia, Caldwell Parish, La. 

(By Oscar Shanks.) 

Feet. 

1. Black sandy loam o- 7 

2 . Brown clay 7- 17 

3. Blue quicksand, lignite, and mica mixed 17- 57 

4. Gray-colored joint clay, with streaks of yellow 

sand 57- 72 

5. Soft blue sandstone 72- 73 

6. Coarse white water sand and gravel (iron water) 73- 85 

7. Blue clay mixed with shells 85-102 

8. Blue flint rock, with gray-colored streaks 102-162 

9. Black sticky clay 162-377 

10. Chocolate-colored rock 377-388 

1 1. Black sticky clay 388-422 

12. Clay, with iron pyrite .... 422-423 

13. Fine sand, with lignite aud mica, containing 

artesian water 42^,-503 

418 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 171 

842. Section of ttst boring in Ouachita River at Standfield Place, 2 miles 
below Columbia, Caldwell Parish, La. {123.3 tniles above mouth of 

Black River).'" 

Depth in feet. 

1. Yellowish sand and clay o.o 

2. Yellowish sand 1.62 

3. Mud, with gray sand . . 19-69 

4. Gray sand 22.31 

5. Mud, with dark sand 25. 10 

6. Sand 41.01 

7. Mud, with sand ; . 43.47 

843. Section 0/ test boring in Ouachita River at Columbia, Caldwell 

Parish, La. {123 6 tniles above mouth of Black River), ^° 

Depth in feet. 

1. Reddish -yellow sand and clay 0.0 

2. Reddish-yellow sand 8.20 

3. Gray sand 9.84 

4. Mud, with sand 15-75 

5. Dark-gray sand 17.39 

6. Mud, with small percentage of sand 24.28 

7. Gray sand 24. 6 r 

8. Mud, with gray sand 29 03 

9. Gray sand 32.31 

10. Sand, with small percentage of mud 36 58 

I r . Gray sand 40.68 

12. Mud and sand 50-59 

13. Mud and sand 52 49 

844. Section of test boring in Ouachita River i mile above Columbia, 
Caldwell Parish, La. {i26.g tniles above tnouth of Black River).^'- 

Depth in feet. 

1. Brown sand and clay 0.0 

2. Gray sand 16.41 

3. Gray -brown sand 32.81 

4. Blue-gray sand, with small percentage of clay 

and pieces of coal 48. 23 

5. Blue-gray sand, with some clay and gravel 73-43 

6. Clay, with small percentage of sand and pieces 

of rock 100.03 

7. Very coarse sand and clay Ii3-i9 

8. Gray sand 1 20.47 

9. Gray sand, with small percentage of clay i77-07 

10. Gray sand, with small percentage of clay 220.14 



«o Ann. Rept. Chief of Engineers for igc2, pt. 2, p. 1561. 
"Ibid., p. 1561. 

419 



172 Geol. Surv. lyA. Report of 1905 [bui<t,. 4 

845. Section of test boring in Ouachita River 2 miles above Columbia, 
Caldwell Parish, La. {i2j.§ m,iles above mouth of Black River) .^^ 

Depth in Feet. 

1. Soft, boggy sand and mud, full of trash 00 

2. Gray sand, with bark and wood 24.60 

3. Gray sand 45.57 



846. Section of test boring in Ouachita River, j miles above Columbia, 
Calwell Parish, La. [128.1 miles above mouth of Black River. f'^ 

Depth in Feet. 

1. Brown sand and clay 0.0 

2. Gray-brown sand, with some clay 17.02 

3. Gray-brown sand, with some clay 5249 



847. Section of test borings in Ouachita River at Calls Landing, Caldwell 
Parish, La. {134-5 tniles above mouth of Black River).^^ 

BORING No. 14. 

Depth in Feet. 

1. Brown sand, with some clay 0.0 

2 . Gray sand 9. 84 

3. Stiff gray-blue sand and clay 31.08 

4. Stiff gray -blue sand and clay 50.86 



BORING No. 14a. 

1. Brown sandy clay 0.0 

2. Gray sand 6.56 

3. Stiff gray-blue sand and clay 39-76 

4. Stiff gray-blue sand and clay 50 00 

848. Section of test boring in Ouachita River at Lower Breston place, 
Caldwell Parish, La. {132.2 miles above mouth of Black River).^* 

Depth in Feet. 

1. Very soft sand and mud 0.0 

2. Brown sand, with small percentage of clay 9.84 

3. Lot of trash, principally wood. 13.12 

4. Fine, clean gray sand 16.40 

5. Coarse, clean gray sand 19 68 

6. Coarse, clean gray sand 45-57 



12 Ann. Rept. Chief of Engineers for 1902, pt. 2, p. 1561. 

13 Ibid., p. 1563. 

14 Ibid., p. 1562. 

420 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 173 

849. Section of test boring in Ouachita River at Uppet Breston place, 
Caldivell Parish, La. {133.3 miles above mouth of Black River).^* 

BORING No. 13. 

Depth in Feet. 

1. Brown sand and mud o.o 

2. Fine gray sand, full of trash 16.40 

3. Coarse gray sand 34- 7^ 

4. Stiff blue mud, with some sand and pieces of 

rock 44.06 

5. Stiff blue mud, with some sand and pieces of 

rock 52.59 

BORING No. 13a. 

1. Soft brown sand 0.0 

2. Fine gray sand, with some trash 16.40 

3. Coarse gray sand 32.81 

4. Stiff blue mud, with some sand and pieces of 

rock 47.64 

5. Stiff blue mud, with some sand and pieces of 

rock 52.49 

850. Section of test boring in Ouachita River at Smithland , Caldwell Par- 

ish, La. {131.2 miles above mouth of Black River). ''^ 

Depth in Feet. 

1. Brown sand, with some clay 0.0 

2. Log 9.84 

3. Gray sand, with small percentage of clay 10,50 

4. Clean gray sand 16 41 

5. Gray-brown sand 21.33 

6. Gray sand, with clay in lumps or layers 32.81 

7. Gray sand, with larger percentage of clay 34- 16 

8. Coal (lignite) 46.03 

9. Gray sand and some clay 46.69 

851. Section 0/ test boring in Black River {37.9 miles above mouth) at 

Neiv Hope place, Catahoula Parish, La.^^ 

BORING No. I. 

Depth in Feet. 

1. Sandy clay 0.0 

2. Sand and lumps of mud 6.57 

3. Dark sand 9. 85 

4. Dark sand 41 .02 



14 Ibid., p. 1562. 

15 Ann. Kept. Chief of Engineers, 1902, pt. 2, p. 1562. 
I* Ibid., p. 1560. 

421 



174 Geol. Surv. IvA.. Report of 1905 [bult,. 4 

BORING No. la. 

1. Sandy clay o.o 

2. Dark -gray sand 3.93 

3. Dark sand and mud : . 12.47 

4. Blue mud 14. 11 

5. Mud and sand , 18.21 

6. Dark sand 29.53 

7. Dark sand 39-37 

852. Section of test boring' in Black River {42.2 miles above mouth) at 
Star View place, Catahoula Parish, La.^^ 

Depth in Feet. 

1. Brown sand and mud 0.0 

2. Gray sand 6.58 

3. Gray sand , , 50.00 

'853. Section of test boring in Black River {§1.4 miles above mouth) at 
Jones Bayou, Catahoula Parish, La.^^ 

Depth per Feet. 

1. Gray-brown sand 0.0 

2. Clean gray sand 9.85 

3. Clean gray sand 50.00 

854. Salt springs are described in this region by a number of the early 
explorers. '7 They were visited by Hopkins in i8;i and pronounced to be 
of little economic value. 

855. Mr. Thomas W. Robertson, field assistant, visited this well August 
18, 1902, and obtained from Mr. A. A. Arnold, head driller, and Dr. J. C. 
Harden, fossils found at a depth of 1,000 to 1,250 feet. These have been 
pronounced Jackson (Eocene) by Prof. G. D. Harris. The depth at which 
they were found confirms the dip observations made on Ouachita River be- 
tween Stock lyanding and Carter Landing. ^'^ 

Dr. Harden, with whom the drillers stayed, was greatly interested in the 
wall and kindly allowed Mr. Robertson to copy the following from his per- 
sonal memorandum. It should be noted that it differs materially from the 
record furnished by the president of the company, and given below, which 
on the whole more nearly agrees with the known structure. 

Section of well of Catahoula Oil and Development Cofnpany, L eland, Cata- 
houla Parish, La. 

[By Dr. J. C. Harden.] 

Feet. 

1. No record o - 40 

2. Coarse gray sandstone, containing pure free- 

stone water 40 - 60 

16 Ibid., p. 1560. 

17 Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, pp. 91-92. 
i8 Ibid., p. 164. 

422 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 175 

3. Black clay, with pebbles 60 - 70 

4. Soft sandstone, with -water 70 - 246 

5. Dark-green clay 246 - 546 

6. Sandstone 546 - 559 

7. Coarse red and white sand 559 - 6or 

8. Black and yellow clays 601 - 666 

9. Soft sandstone 666 - 670.5 

10. Sand, with soft, warm water. 670 5- 700.5 

11. Black clay 700.5- 760.5 

12. Yellow clay 760.5- 775.5 

13. Fine gray sand, with water 775-5- 803.5 

14. Black clay 800.5- 875.5 

15. No record 875 5-1,000 

16. Clay, with shells (Jackson) 1,000 -1,250 

17. No record 1.250 -1,300 

18. Very black formation, old seaweed, mud, and 

lignite (Cockfield) i ,300 -i ,500 

19. Sand, with artesian salt water 1,500 -1,645 

20. Rock, "gypsum" 1,645 -1,651 

21. Very fine gray gypsum?; sand; water not 

artesian 1,651 -1,701 

22. Black and yellow clay 1,701 -1,751 

23. Rock T,75i -1,764 

24. No record 1,764 -1,864 

"Pipe was withdrawn from 1,864 to 900 feet, when an explosion occurred 

which could be heard over three-fourths mile; then a gusher of very foul- 
smelling gas, mud, lignite, and salty water shot up over 100 feet. This 
contained some oil. Flow continued for twenty-two hours, when it stopped 
by choking. Before flow stopped salty water became quite clear." 

The president, Mr. S. McDowell, furnished the following record in Feb- 
ruary, 1903: 



Section of ivell of Catahoula Oil and Development Company^ Leland, Cata- 
houla Parish, La. 

[By S. McDowell, president.] 

Feet. 

1. Gray-mottled clay , o- 60 

2. Quicksand, with water 60- 80 

3. Sandstone 80- 130 

4. Blue or green clays 130- 370 

5. Water-bearing sand 37o- 

6. Blue or green clays -i,55o 

7. Artesian salt water i,55o- 

No water was encountered between the 370-foot sand stratum and 1,550 
feet. 

423 



176 Gkol. Surv. La. Report of 1905 [bui,i,. 4 

Section of test well of St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway , 
Olla. Catahoula Parish, La. 

[From records in the office of B. Fisher, chief engineer of bridges and buildings.] 

Feet 

1. Clay . 0-242 

2. Water and sand 242-254 

3. Streaks of sand and clay 254-257 

4. Fine sand, with layers of sand rock and some 

water 257-314 

5. Clay and sand in layers 314-328 

6. Soapstone 328-341 

7. Gray, hard clay, and black, tough clay or soap- 

stone 341-358 

8. Fine sand, water trace, 358-364 

9. Clay and fine sand, not much water 364-369 

10. Fine eand, not much water 369-374 

859. Section of test boring in Ouachita River at Catahoula Shoals, Cata- 
houla Parish, La., {jj miles above mouth of Black River). '^'^ 

Depth in feet. 

1. Sandy mud 0.0 

2. Sand, clay and gravel .99 

3. Gravel . . 3.28 

4. Gray sand 15-75 

5. Blue-brown sandy clay 30-35 

6. Blue-gray rock 52.50 

7. Very hard blue gray clay or soft rock 54-33 

8. Soft blue-gray rock 76. 18 

9. Blue sandy clay 86.32 

10. Gray rock. ... 139.67 

11. Blue sandy clay 140 

12. Fine gray sand; water flowed at the rate of 

3,600 gallons per hour 158 07 

13. Fine gray sand; water flowed at the rate of 

3,600 gallons per hour i97-5i 

862. L,ockett^° gives the following regarding this locality: "In the 
vicinity of La Croix Ferry, and near the mouth of Trout Creek, is a small 
area of about i mile square, peculiarly characterized by numerous sulphur 
springs. The best known of these are on the eastern bank of Trout Creek, 
known as the Catahoula White Sulphur, and now owned by Mrs, Ward. 
Her husband first opened these springs to the public in 1846, and for many 
years they were a fashionable resort for the planters of Rapides and other 
parishes. Their waters were thought to be beneficial to those afflicted with 
liver complaint, dyspepsia and all kinds of cutaneous diseases. 

"One mile from Wards Springs, on the opposite side of Trout Creek, are 
the sulphur springs of Captain Welch, which are better, more numerous, 
and stronger than the former, but are not so well known, from never having 
been opened to the public." 



'9 Ann. Rept. Chief of Engineers, 1902, pt. 2, p. 1560. 
20 Ann. Rept. Louisiana State Univ. for 1S69, 1S70, pp. 56, 57. 

424 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 177 

863. Analysis of sp>ing water Jrotn sec, 15, T. 21 N., R. 4 IV., Ciai- 
borne Parish, La." 

Parts per million. 

Silica 52.4 

Peroxide of iron and alumina 13.2 

Lime 23.9 

Magnesia 7.01 

Potash 4.78 

Soda 22.9 

Sulphuric anhydride 229 

Chlorine 1659 

Carbonic acid 35.9 

Oxygen absorbed from potassium permanganate in 

three hours .30 

No ammonia and mere traces of nitrates, nitrites, and phosphoric acid. 



867. Section of Texas and Pacific Railway well ct Fish Pond, Concordia, 

Parish, La. 

[By C. H. Camberlain.] 

Alluvium and Port Hudson: Feet- 

1. Top soil and clay 0-40 

2. Blue clay, with streaks of sand 40- 70 

3. Quicksand 70- 95 

4. Clay and Cottonwood drift 95-100 

5. Loose stones and gravel 100-105 

6. Sharp water sand and gravel 105-145 



871. Section of R. G. Hedrick's test well, 2 /-2 miles northeast of Frierson , 

De Soto Parish, La. 

Sabine: Feet- 

1. Gray sands and clays, with lignite o- 241 

2. Coarse white sand; lost water in large quantities 241- aSt 

Midway and Arkadelphia: 

3. Dark clay 281- 301 

4. Rock 301- 302 

5. Dark-colored laminated lignitiferous clay, with 

large concretions and occasional layers of iron 

pyrite 302- 90 1 

6. Harder clay; did not cave as badly as that above 91- 998 

2' Preliminary report on the hill lands south of the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific 
Railway to Akxandria; Geol. and Agric. of La., pt. 2, 1893, p. ii8. 

425 



178 Geoi.. Surv. lyA. Report op 1905 [bui^i.. 4 

Nacatoch : 

7. Indurated sand, containing Foraminifera and 

Ostracoda. Furnishes artesian salt water . . , 998- 

Marlbrook : 

8. Blue clay -1,275 

9. White limestone; gas at 1,300 feet, (Saratoga?). . 1,275-1,300 
10. Light clayey shale, with some sand 1,300-1,500 

Diameter, 8 inches, 0-380 feet; 6 inches, 380-913 feet; 4 inches, 9r3-i,5oo 
feet. Temperature of artesian water August 25, 1902, 70° F. Elevation of 
gound, 198.3 feet; top of 4-inch pipe, 203.5 f^^t above mean Gulf level. 



872. Section of Mississippi River Commission test boring , Hays Landing, 
East Carroll Parish, La.'^^ 

[By K. W. Hilgard.] 

Alluvium : Peet. 

1. Noncalcareous clayey silt, with abundant vege- 

table matter not lignitized 0-56 

Port Hudson: 

2. Coarse sand, with gravel and grains of lignite 

A clay streak occurs at 82.5 to 82.6 56-109 

"Upper Claiborne" (Jackson): 

3. Whitish greensand marl. On washing and set- 

tling the greensand falls to the bottom, the 
red sand occupies the middle, and the calcar- 
eous debris lies on top 127-132 

4. Greensand marl like the last, with calcareous con- 

cretions containing shell fragments 132-135 

5. Concretions from marl bed, with shell fragments 145-150 

6. Bluish clay, with lignite grains 158-160 

7. Fine sand of a clay color with greensand 166-176 

8. Bluish clayey silt, with lignite grains 176-181 

"This boring at Hayes Landing, about 5 J^ miles southwest from the boring 
at Lake Providence (873), shows in its upper portion the same unusual 
variety of materials as No. 873. For that very reason it is extremely pro- 
bable that if it were of the older formation the corresponding fossils would 
be easily found. The depth of the alluvium here may therefore probably 
be placed at 56.8 feet; from this depth to that of 109 feet there can be no 
doubt of the true character of the older or ' bottom gravel.' " 

=2 Ann. Rept. Miss, River Com. for 1883: 48th Cong., 1st sess.. House Ex. Doc. No. 37, 
1884, pp. 494, 496. 

426 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 179 

Harris^^ has identified the following tonus from this well: Leda unilliline- 
ala (radial marking on anterior only), Z-^i/a, depth 135 feet; W'n'iicardia 
planicosta and ]'. rotunda, depth 137 feet. 

These forms, together with those obtained from the other borings along 
t he river, indicate that this formation is Jackson rather than Claiborne. 



873. Section of Mississippi River Commission test bornig at Lake Provi- 
dence, East Carroll Parish, La.^^ 

[By E. W. Hilgard] 
Alluvium: Feet. 

1. Yellowish noncalcareous silt, with macerated 

vegetable matter, varying in the proportions 

of sand and clay every few feet o- 9.6 

2. Blue clay 96- 15.6 

3. Yellowish sand, slightly coherent 15.6- 29 

4. Blackish-blue clay 29 - 30 

5. Grayish-yellow sand, slightly coherent 30 - 42.9 

Port Hudson: 

6. Loose sand, with grains of lignite 54-8- 

7. Fine brownish silt, darker below, with lignite 

in grains 56 - 82 

8. Bluish-gray clay 82 - 84 

9. Clayey silt of a terra-cotta color; abundant lig- 

nite grains . 100.5-101 

10. Grayish-yellow sand; vegetable matter abundant loi -103.2 

11. Brownish clay 103.2-104 

12. Coarse sand, with chert pebbles 109 -127.6 

13. Black lignite 127 -131. 5 

14. Whitish-blue sandy clay 131. 5-1 70 

15. Fine yellowish clayey sand 170 -191 

16. Gray sand, with clayey streaks . 191 -247 

17. Blackish-brown clay 247 -248 

"Boring No. 2, the deep boring at Lake Providence town, is one of the 
most interesting, not only on account of the great depth reached (248 feet) 
and the great variety of materials encountered, but mainly from the fact 
that at this great depth the Tertiary strata (contrary to the impression of 
the engineer in charge) have not been reached." For the general run of wells 
in this section the writer is inclined to regard stratum No. 12 as the base 
of the Quaternary or Port Hudson deposits. 



23Geol. Survey Lousiana, Rept. of 1902, p. 23. 

24Ann. Rept. Miss. River Com. for 1883; 48lh Cong., ist sess., House Ex. Doc. No. 37, i{ 
pp. 494, 496. 

427 



i8o Geol. Surv. La. Report of 1905 [bui^i,. 4 

875 Section of well at Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.'^ 

[By John L. Kennedy.] 

Feet. 

1. Black, blue, and red loam o-io 

2. Fine sand : 10-19 

3. Coarse water-bearing sand 19-34 

4. "Concrete" 34-38 

5. Water-bearing sand 38-77 

6. "Concrete" 77-79 

7. Sand 79-85 

8. "Concrete" . 85-86 

9. Water sand 86-93 

"Abandoned at 112 feet, the water being found too ferruginous for gen- 
eral purposes." 



877. Section of town well at Colfax, Grant Parish, La. 

[By L. B. Hart.] 

Port Hudson: Feet. 

1. Surface * o- 70 

2. Water-bearing sand and gravel . 70- 130 

Jackson: 

3. Very hard clay 130- 300 

4. Blue joint clay 300- 550 

Cockfield: 

5. Fine quicksand 550- 650 

6. Hard brown clay 650- 800 

7. Sand rock 800- 835 

8. Alternate layers of quicksand and black clay .. . 835-1,000 

9. Sand rock 1,000-1,060 

10. Loose sand 1,060-1,100 

11. Hard sandstone 1,100-1,128 

12. Hard white clay, not passed through 1,128- 

"Pipe pulled back and set at 1,103 feet. This water proved to be very 
salty or full of soda. It seemed to be propelled by gases, the water rising 
in a pipe 65 feet above the surface. The natural flow is 60,000 gallons for 
twenty-four hours." 

Mr. R. S. Cameron reports that below 150 feet gypsum and shells (princi- 
pally small spirals) were quite common. No shells were found above 150 
feet.^^ 

25Geol. Survey I,ouisiana, Rept. of 1902, p. 232. 

^^shells are incorrectly reported above 150 feet in Geol. Survey I,ouisiana, Rept. of 1902, 
p. 211. 

428 



I 



veatch] Underground Watp:r of Northern La. i8i 

880. The artesian water obtained in the sandstone at 255 feet is used 
entirely for drinking. The well was continued to 910 feet without obtaining 
water except at 500 feet, where an impotable water was found in a blue mud. 



881, Section of well of Louisiana Lumber Company Litnited.Rochelle, 
Grant Parish, La. 

[By Oscar Shauks.J 

Feet. 

1 . White dirt soil 1-45 

2. Fine sand, with sticks, logs and acorns 45- 56 

3. Alternate layers of blue clay and flint rock, with 

streaks of salt water in fine sand 56-555 

4. Alternate layers of fine white sand and porous 

chocolate-colored rock, in layers 6 to 12 inches 

thick; furnishes artesian salt water 555-5^5 

Mr. F. T. Boles, manager of the Lord & Bushnell Lumber Company, 
Chicago, reports: "Well at Rochelle was 1,100 feet deep; at that depth 
brackish water with gas was obtained. One of our men who worked on the 
job reports that a slight flow of fairly good water was obtained at 700 feet." 
This refers to the same well reported by Mr. Shanks. 



882. Section of well of St. Louis, Lron Mountain and Southern Railway 
at Sandspur, Grant Parish, La. 

[By Oscar Shanks.] 

Feet. 

1. Red clay 0-50 

2. Cemented gravel 50-60 

3. Coarse Gravel and sand 60-75 

Well finished with a Cook strainer 14 feet long. 



883. Secti07i of zvell of S. Hopper Mill Cotnpany, Slay, Grant Parish, La. 

[By Oscar Shanks.] 

Feet. 

1 . White and yellow clay 1-20 

2. Quicksand 20-30 

3. Blue clay 30-60 

4. Coarse gravel and white sand 60-78 

429 



i82 Geol. Surv. L,a. Report op 1905 [Buti,. 4 

884. Section of ivell of Dxvis Brothers, Ansley, fackson Parish, La, 
[By L. B. Clifford.] 

Claiborne andSabine: Feet. 

1 . Red clay c- 22 

2. Blue clay and rock 22-196 

3. Gray saud, water bearing 190-245 



885. Section of well of Hiiie-Hodge Lumber Co^np any, Hodge, fackson 

Parish, La. 

[By I^. B. Clifford.] 

Claiborne and Sabine: Feet. 

1. Marl and blue clay 0-292 

2. Gray sand, water-bearing 292-300 



886. Mr. L. B. Clifford writes: "In the Jonesboro well there were about 70 
feet of lignite in different layers; balance was blue marl, with occasional 
rocks. The water-bearing sand was gray and about 30 feet thick." 



887. Section of well of Wyatt Lumber Company , Wyatt, fackson Parish, La . 

[By L. B. Clifford.] 

Claiborne: Feet. 

1 . Blue shell marl , 0-70 

Claiborne and Sabine: 

2. Blue clay and layers of rock 70-208 

3. Hard packed sand, layers of blue rock at bottom 208-242 

4. Fine white sand, water bearing 242-252 

5. Hard-packed gray sand and rock 252-272 

6. Gray sand, water bearing 272-302 



430 



vhatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 



183 



8SS. Analyses of st>ring 'uater fro-n Chaufauqua grounds; near Ruslou, 
Lincoln Parish, La.^^ 

[By Maurice Bird.] 



Constituents (in parts per million.) 



Soluble silica 

Iron and alumina . . . . 

Lime 

Magnesia 

Pota^h 

Soda 

Chlorine 

Sulphuric acid 

Phosphoric acid 

Nitrogen as nitrates . 
Nitrogen as nitrites . 
Nitrogt-n as anmionia 
Carbonic acid 



Griff en Springs, 


Gri 


ffen 


Springs, 


No. I. 




No. 2. 


47.9 






455 


26.3 






41.0 


26.3 






203 


ir.6 






15 


Trace. 






Trace. 


19.C 






20.3 


7.2 






5 5 


"•5 






12.8 


Trace. 






Trace. 


Trace. 






Trace. 


None. 






None. 


None 






None. 


Not determined 


Not 


determined. 



Both springs are slightly chalybeate. 



899. Sid. on of well of Ruslon Wa'erworks, Riistou, Lincoln Parish, La. 

[By h. B. Clifford.] 



1. Sand 

2. Light-blue clay 

3. Water-bearing sand 

4. Rock 

5. Blue clay, with limestone concretion . 

6. Water-bearing sand 

7. Clay 

8. Rock 



9. Water-bearing sand 

10. Rock 

11 . Water-bearing sand 

1 2. Rock .... 

13. Water-bearing sand ... 

14. Clay, with occasional rocks 

15. Water-bearing sand 

16. Clay, with occasional rocks 

17. Water-bearing sand 

iS. Clay, with occasional rocks 

19. Water-bearing sand 

Pipe was perforated between 120 and 126 feet and between 373 and 425 
feet. 



Feet. 


0- 


18 


18- 


59 


59- 


60 


6c- 


61 


61- 


67 


67- 


68 


68- 


69 


69- 


74 


74- 


76 


76- 


81 


81- 


84 


84- 


85 


85- 


86 


86- 


120 


120- 


126 


126- 


152 


152- 


154 


154- 


373 


373-425 



28Geology and Agriculture of Louisiana, pt. i, 1892, p. 47. 

431 



84 Gboi., Surv. La. Rbport of 1905 [bdi,i,. 4 

893. Section of Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railway test well at 
Delta, Madison Parish, La. 

[By R. B. Coxe.] 

Alluvium and Port Hudson: Feet. 

1. Clay o- 12 

2. Quick sand ... 12- 50 

3. Light clay, passing below into saud and gravel. . 50- 118 

4. Coarse gray water-bearing sand 118- 135 

5. Clay; no water 135-1,200=^ 



894-. Pronounced by State experiment station a good drinking water. 



895. "Wells in the valleys and on the bayous are generally from 25 to 50 
feet deep; on the hills from 60 to 150 feet. The water is in most cases slightly 
hard. There is a flowing well in T. 19 N., R. 16 E-, and one that flows at 
times in the channel of Bonne Idee Bayou in T. 21 N., R. 7 E. Sulphur 
springs abound along upper Bartholomew and Boeuf rivers." 



896. Section of well at court-house, Bastrop, Morehouse Parish, La. 

[By W. A. Harriugton.] 

Port Hudson: Feet. 

1. Clay and soil o- 25 

2. Dry sand 25- 65 

3. Medium coarse sand, filled with good, almost 

pure, water 65-153 

4. Hardpan 153- 



897. Section of well of St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, 
Collinston, Morehouse Parish, La. 

[By C. H. -Winters.] 

Alluvium and Port Hudson: i^eet. 

1. Sandy clay and soil o-IO 

2. Hard gumbo and yellow clay 10-64 

3. Fine sand ... 64-68 

4. Coarse sand and gravel 68-71 

5. Fine sand 7 r-78 

6. Gravel and sand 78-81 

Well is furnished with a No. 4 Cook well strainer. When pumping 140 
gallons per minute the water level remains unchanged. 

432 



\ 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 185 

898. Section of ivell of St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway^ 
Mer Rouge, Morehouse Parish, La. 

[By Oscar Shanks.] 

Port Hudson : Feet. 

1 . Black soil 0-6 

2. Stiff clay 6-79 

3. Water-bearing sand 79-89 



901. Mr. D. G. Petty reports: "A well i inch in diameter wassunk here 
in the early part of 1902, and at 412 feet flowed from the pipe 20 feet above 
ground for half a day. The pipe was on a rock, and as that was the time 
of the oil excitement the workmen concluded to go through the rock and 
strike oil. The rock was penetrated and the water ceased to flow. Noth- 
ing more has been done to the well except to remove the pipe. The pipe 
was never fast and one man could easily turn it at any time. The water wkb 
very good for drinking. Did not test for hard or soft. 



904. Partial section of test well at Drakes Salt Works, sec. 21, T. 12 N., 
R. ^W., Natchitoches Parish, La. 

[By H. H. Jones.] 

Feet. 

1 . Yellow sand clay o- 5 

2. White sand, with water which steams all right in 

a boiler, but turns deep red and coats every- 
thing with a salty crust 5-42 

3. Cypress log, very much decayed, charred on one 

side 42- 43 

4. Soft sand, gravel, and streaks of clay of various 

colors so mixed in drilling that we could not 

classify or give stratification 43-318 

5. Very parous crystalline limestone; crevices filled 

with white and yellow calcite crystals 318-475 

"At 150 feet a foam found on the water which tasted very much of alum, 
puckering the mouth very much." 

Samples from stratum 5 are in every way identical with the limestone 
found at the Winnfield "Marble Quarry." 

433 



i86 Geoi.. Surv. La. Report op 1905 [bui,i<. 4 

^^^.^ Partial section of well of J. W. Cockerham,Jr., Luella, Natchitoches 

Parish, La. 

Alluvium and Port Hudson: ' Feet. 

1. Surface loam o - 36 

Transition : 

2. Sand and gravel, -with large lignitized cotton- 

wood (?) log at 270 feet 36 -300 

Sabine : 

3. Rock 300 -304 

4. Blue clay, with occasional rock several feet thick 304 -640 

5. Sand, with artesian salt water 640 - 

6. Fossiliferous sand, with artesian salt water 700.5-707 

Mr. Cockerham has three wells on his place which obtain water from the 
sand and gravel stratum No. 2, and which are, respectively, 36, 86, and 106 
feet deep. The water in these stands from 18 to 21 feet below the surface, 
and from the 36-foot well a supply of 10 gallons per minute has been pumped 
without affecting the water level. 



908. Section of well of Montrose Lumber Company, Montrose, Natchi- 
toches Parish, La. 

Alluvium and Port Hudson : Feet. 

1. Surface clay and loam 0-80 

2. Quicksand, abundant supply of water, but it can 

not be used in boilers 8c-i8o 

Jackson and Cockfield : 

3. Blue clay, with fossil shells; no water 180-496 

Well sunk in January, 1899. Judging from the depth of the water-bear- 
ing sand in the Weaver spur well, water should be obtained at this place at 
a depth of about 600 feet. (P. 138; PI. xxxviii, sec. E ) 



9 10. Section of well at waterworks, Natchitoches, Natchitoches Parish, La. 

[By Judge C. H. Levy.l 

Claiborne : Feet. 

1. Red clay 0-5 

2. Blue clay 5-12 

3. Red clay 12-13 

4. Blue and red sandy clay 13-16 

434 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern L,a. 187 

Sabine : 

5. Fine gray quicksand, very variable in thickness. 16-39 

6. Black sandy clay 39-40 

7. Coarse gra}' sand, not passed through 40-64 

The well at the waterworks consists of a dug well, 30 feet in diameter 
and 19 feet deep, in which five i^-inch pipes and one 3-inch pipe have been 
driven to a depth of 40 to 45 feet below the bottom of the well. The water 
flows rapidly from the top of these pipes into the well. 



911. The following record has been prepared from the statements of 
President Caldwell, and from data collected on the ground while the well 
was being drilled : 

Section of well oj Norfnal School, Natchitoches, Natchitoches Parish, La. 

1. Red and chocolate clays o - 34 

2. Soft sandstone, iron stained 34 - 35.5 

3. Gray sand, with a moderate supply of very salty 

water, rising to within 14 inches of the surface 35-5- 38 

4. Alternate beds of blue-gray and red-gray sand- 

stone and blue clay, with occasional bits of 

pyrite and lignite 38 - 96 

5. Very fine, nearly pure white sand, with a large 

supply of water, not distinctly salt 96 -108 

6. Chocolate clay, blue clay, and thin beds of sand 108 -134 

7. Iron pyrite 134 -144 

8. Coarse, white rounded sand 144 -156 

9. Pyrite 156 -160 

10. Alternate layers of clay and sand, with one or 

two thin beds of impure lignite i6o -462 

11. Shells and gravel 462 -496 

12. Blue clay 498 -558 

13. Lignite 558 -558.5 

14. Blue clay 558.5-560 

15. Lignite 560 -571 

16. Blue clay, with occasional seams of lignite .... 571 -637 

17. Gray clay, with limestone concretions 637 -680 

18. Lignite 680 -700 

19. Sandstone . ; 700 -704 

20. Soft blue clay 704 -710 

21. Light-gray sand, with artesian salt water and 

gas 710 -726 

Harris =^ adds the following information, obtained from the foreman of 
the Andrews Well Company : 



2SGeol. Survey Louisiana, Kept, of 1902, p. 210. 

435 



i88 Geol. Surv. La. Report of 1905 [bui,i,. 4 

Partial section of well of No*"mal School, Natchitoches, Natchitoches 

Parish, La. 

Feet. 

1. Greenish brittle clay, with shells 0-547 

2. Lignite , 547-558 

3. Clay, with shells 558-678 

4. Bowlder 678-681 

5. Clay (no shells), rock, fine sand 681-728 



913. Analysis of water from Iroji Sptings, near Natchitoches, Natchi- 
toches Parish, La."'^ 
[By Maurice Bird.] 

Parts per million. 

Silica , , 64.0 

Iron and aluminum oxides 8.0 

Lime (CaO) 12.0 

Magnesia , 9.3 

Sulphuric acid (SO3) ... 20.6 

Potash 4.0 

Soda 22.0 

Chlorine ... 17.4 

"Water is cjlorless, but contains a little brown suspended matter; it is 
neutral to litmus paper and practically tasteless." 



91 i. Analysis of water from Breazeale Spring, 2 miles northwest of 
Natchitoches, Natchitoches Parish, La^° 

[By Maurice Bird. J 

Parts per million. 

Silica 55 o 

Iron and aluminum oxides ... 4.0 

Lime (CaO) 9.0 

Magnesia 5.7 

Sulphuric acid (SO3) 20.6 

Potash 4.0 

Soda 22.0 

Chlorine 17.4 

"Water is clear and colorless, neutral to litmus paper, and practically 

tasteless." , . 

29 ieol. Survey I,ouisiana, Rept. for 1899 [1900], p. 148. 
3oibid., p. 148. 

436 



► 



veatch] Underground Water op Northern I^a. 189 

918. Sections of test borings in Ouachita River near Bosco, Ouachita 
Purish, La. (15s miles above mouth of Black River)^^ 

BORING No. 18. 

Depth in feet. 

1 . Yellow sand 0.0 

2. Gray sand, with small percentage of clay 13.12 

3. Mud 36.09 

4. Mud, with small percentage of sand 43-96 

BORING No. 18a. 

1. Fine, clean sand 0.0 

2. Fine gray sand and mud 4.43 

3. Coarse gray sand and blue mud, with gravel . . . 17.06 

4. Clean gray sand 17-56 

5. Gray sand and mud 23.46 

6. Mud, with small percentage of sand 24.78 

7. Mud 25. 10 

8. Mud 32-14 



919. The following section of the well of the Louisiana Oil Company was 
prepared from samples at the well : 

Description 0/ samples from well of Louisiana Oil Company, j miles southeast 
of Cheniere, Ouachita Parish, La. 

[By A. C. Veatch.] 

Depth in feet. 

1. Dark clay 10 

2. Light, sandy clay 35 

3. Mottled clay 45 

4. Pebbly clay 55 

5. Dark, stiff clay 65, 75 

6. Dark, sandy clay 85, 95, 105 

7. Dark sand 115 

8. Dark sand, with small shells 125, 135, 145, 155 

9. Dark, sandy clay 165, 175, 185, 195 

10. Light cay 205 

1 1 . Light clay and sand 215 

12. Hard clay 225, 235, 245, 255 

13. White sand 265-275 

14. Sand and clay 285, 295 

15. Clay, with shells 305, 315 

3iAun. Rept. Chief of Engineers for 1902, p. 1564. 

437 



iQo Geol. Surv. La. Report op 1905 [buix. 4 

16. Lignit ic clay 325 

17. Ligni e and sand 335.345 

18. Sand 355,430 

19. Hard clay 445 

20. Clay and sand 455 

21. Gray sand, reported to contain artesian water. . 465-515 



920. Sections of test borings in Ouachita River near Logtqwn, Ouachita 
Parish, La. {160 i miles above mouth of Black River). '^'^ 

BORING No. 19. 

Depth iu feet. 

1. Brown sand and trash . . . 0.0 

2. Brown sand , 1.64 

3. Sand and coarse gravel 13.12 

4 Very stiff, sticky blue-black clay 23.78 

5. Very stiff, l»lue-black clay, with pockets and 

streaks of greensand and shells, also many 
small pieces of rock, some as large as a hen's 
egg • •'• 37-73-50 



BORING No. 19a. 

1. Brown sandy clay 00 

2. Brown sand 1.97 

3. White sand I3-I3 

4. Sand and coarse gravel 19.69 

5. Sand and coarse gravel, with small percentage of 

clay 28.12 

6. Stiff, sticky blue-black clay 34-78 

7. Very stiff clay, with pockets and streaks of green 

sand 42.65 

8. Very stiff clay, with pockets and streaks of green- 

sand marl; also several pieces of rock about 

the size of a hen's egg 49.22-50 



32Anii. Rept. Chief of Engineers for 1902, p. 1564. 



438 



\ 



vkatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 



191 



9*21. Analyses of waters from wells of the Consolidated Ice Company, 
Monroe, Ouachita Parish, LaJ^ 

[3y Maurice Bird.] 



Constituents (in parts per million). 



Soluble silica 

Iron and alumina .... 

Lime 

Magnesia 

Potash 

Soda 

Chlorine 

Sulphuric acid .... 
Phosphoric acid .... 
Nitrogen as nitrates . 
Nitrogen as nitrites. . 
Nitrogen as ammonia 
Carbonic acid 



Jackson 


Booue 


well. 


well. 


14.022 


50.958 


27.018 


30-438 


14.022 


17-955 


2.394 


3.420 


3.762 


3.762 


224.694 


259 407 


24-795 


27.018 


7-524 


9405 


12.825 


17 784 


None. 


None. 


None. 


None. 


None. 


None. 


177.840 


87.039 



922. Section of zvell of Consolidated Ice Company, Monroe, Ouachita 

Parish, La. 
Port Hudson: Feet. 

1. Clay and earth 0-40 

2. Sand, water bearing 40- 60 

3- Clay ,. 60-65 

4. Water-bearing sand .... 65- 75 

5. Hard clay . -. . ... 75- 90 

6. Coarse sand and gravel 90- 95 

Claiborne and Sabine ?: 

7. Blue clay mixed with sand and a few layers of 

rock 95-250 

Sabine: 

8. Sand, with some black substance like lignite; 

water begins to flow at 250 feet and flow 

increases with depth . 250-400 



923. There are three wells at the waterworks, btit because of the large 
amount of mineral matter the water is used only in case of fire. The main 
supply is derived from Ouachita River. In 1898 Mr. Strong gave the follow- 
ing record of this well: 



33Report on the hills of Louisiana north of the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Rwy. ; 
Geol. and Agric. of L,a., pt. i, 1893, pp. 45-47. 



439 



192 Gkol. Surv. lyA. Report of 1905 [bui.1,. 4 

Section of waterworks well No. i, Monroe, Ouachita, Parish, La. 

[By Will A. strong.] 

Port Hudson: Feet. 

1. Clay and quicksand c- 80 

Claiborne and Sabine: 

2. Soft bluish clay 80-180 

3. Blue marl, with shells 180-190 

4. Rock 190-191 

5. Soft blue pipe clay 191-289 

Sabine: 

6. Water-bearing sand 289-385 

The water first began to flow at 289 feet and the flow increased with the 
depth. 

924. Analysis of water from deep well of Planters' Oil Company, Monroe, 
Ouachita, Parish, LaJ^^ 

[By Maurice Bird.] 

Parts per million 

Soluble silica 71.820 

Iron and alumina 52.668 

Lime 7.182 

Magnesia 14.364 

Potash 7.524 

Soda 252.909 

Chlorine 53.865 

Sulphuric acid 9-234 

Phosphoric acid None. 

Nitrogen as nirates None. 

Nitrogen as nitrites None. 

Nitrogen as ammonia None. 

Carbonic acid 102.942 



928. Sections of test borings in Ouachita River at Monroe , Ouachita Parish , 
La. {183.4. ^iiss above mouth of Black River). ^^ 

BORING No. 20. 

Depth in feet. 

1. Brown sand o 00 

2. Gray sand 17-39 

3. Blue-black clay and sand , 40.22 

4. Blue-black clay and sand 51.38 

34 Report on the hills of Louieiana north of the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific R'y. 
Geol. and Agric. of I,a., pt. i 1893; pp. 45-47. 

35 Ann. Rept. Chief of Engineers for 1902 pp. 1564-1565. 

440 



veatch] Underground Water of Northbrn^La. 193 

BORING No, 20a. Depth in feet. 

1. Rrowii sand and claj' o.oo 

2. Brown sand 3 28 

3. Grayish sand 22.96 

4. Blue-black clay, with some mud 36.28 

5. Blue-l)lack clay, with some mud 50.20 



BORING No. 20b. 

1. Yellow sand and mud 0.0 

2. Gray sand 6.56 

3. Coarse sand mixed with gravel and mud 22.31 

4. Coarse bits of broken gravel and sand 23.95 

5- Sand 25.59 

6. Fine sand and mud 27.23 

3. Mud 28.55 

8. Blue mud 3i-5o 

9. Mud and sand 33-79 

10. Mud 36.42 

11. Mud and sand 41.01 

12. Mud and sand 43.97 

BORING No. 20c. 

1. Clean white sand ... 0.00 

2. Yellow sand 5,26 

3. Wet brown sand 5.58 

4. Wet black sand 5.91 

5. Gray sand 1 2.47 

6. Fine sand and mud 35-86 

7. Blue clay 39-77 



929. Sections of test borings in Ouachita River at Rock Rozv Shoals 
Ouachita Parish, La. [200. g miles above tnouth of Black River). ^^ 

BORING No. 21. 

Depth in feet. 

1. Brown-gray sand, with small percentage of clay 0.00 

2. Brown sand 1.64 



36 Ann. Rept. Chief Engineers for 1902, pt. 2, pp. 1565-1566. 

441 



194 Gboi,. Surv. La. Rkport of 1905 [bui.i.. 

Claiborne: Depth in feet. 

3. Very stiff clay and greensand marl "^ 24.27 

4. Very stiff clay and greensand marl, with a few 

shells 49-70 

5. Rock 62.73 

6. Very stiff clay and greensand marl, with a few 

shells 62 .99 

7. Same clay, with more greensand and pieces of 

rounded rock, size i inch 69.62 

- 8. Rock 7099 

9. Greensand, with small precentage of clay . 71.68 

10. Greensand and clay 74-45 

11. Stiff clay, with some greensand and a few small 

shells 78.74 

12. Very stiff blue-black cla}', with a few small 

shells 82.02 

13. Rock 102. 39» 

14. Ver}' stiff blue-black clay, with a few small 

shells 102.72 

15. Very stiff dark-brown clay and sand, with some 

shells 1 17.97 

16. Gray rock, very hard and full of shells 126.31 

17. Dark-gray sand and clay, with shells 126.46 

18. Rock" 13T.36 

19. Blue-black clay, with shells and sand 131-69 

20. Gray and green rock full of shells , 146.78 

21. Ver}' stiff clay, with shells and pockets of sand 149.14 

22. Gray-green rock full of shells i53-7o 

23. Very stiff ]clay, with shells and sand. . I55-02 

24. Gray-greenjock full of shells 156 39 

25. Gray -green rock full of shells 157-05 



BORING No. 2ia. 

Depth in feet. 

1. Brown-gray sand and mud 0.00 

2. Greensand marl, with large precentage of clay.. 16.40 

3. Stratum of rock about i inch thick 40.35 

4. Very stiff greensand and clay 48.49 

5. Very stiff mud or soft rock . . . . , 62.79 



442 



vkatch] Undkrground Water of Northern L,a. 195 

933-93G. In 1894 and 1895 four wells were put down by the city of 
Alexandria — two near the corner of Monroe and^ Fourth streets, where the 
waterworks now stand; one behind the city hall, and the fourth on the 
corner of St. James and Fourth streets. All these were flowing wells, the 
water rising from 4 to 10 feet above the surface, and were used at first to 
supply public watering troughs. After the installation of the waterworks 
in 1895, the j-ielJ of the wells at the city hall and St. James and Fourth 
streets gradually decreased. For several years they would cease flowing 
when pumping began at the waterworks, and recommence about three 
hours after the pumps, had stopped. Since 1899 they have not flowed at all 
and the water level is gradually lowering. On August 6, 1902, it was found 
to be from 58 to 60 feet below the surface in the city-hall well, and 49 feet 
in the well at St. James and Fourth streets. 

No record was kept of these wells, and the various reports received con- 
cerning them are very contradictory and confusing. The following repre- 
sents the best data obtainable: 

Well behind city hall. — Diameter, 1.5 inches; completed in 1894; flowed 
intermittently until 1899, the water supplying a public watering trough. 
On August 6, 1902 the well was sounded and found to be 473 feet deep; 
about 20 feet of sand had accumulated in the bottom, but the plumb bob 
finally reached hard claj'. 

Waterworks ivell No. i. — Diameter, 4 inches; strainer, 2.5 inches; com- 
pleted 1898, Mr. H, C. Kenneker, foreman in charge of the drilling, states 
that the well is 560 feet deep, the water-bearing sand extending from 540 to 
560 feet. This, with well No. 2, was pumped with a direct-suction pump 
from 1895 to 1901, when an air lift was installed. The air-lift pipe is 198 feet 
long, and the air pressure on August 4, 1902, indicated that the water was 
at that time approximately 138 feet from the surface. Mr. Ira W. Sylvester, 
city engineer, states that it takes over a day for the water in No. i to rise 
to within 3 feet of the surface. Yield of well April 16, 1902, 53 gallons in 
27 seconds. 

Waterworks well No. 2. — Diameter, 10 inches, 0-210 feet; 8 inches, 210- 
612 feei.; 4 inches, 612-760 feet. Mr. H. C. Kenneker, the driller, reports 
that water-bearing sand was encountered at 540, 620 and 760 feet, and that 
strainers were placed at each of the sands, Mr. Ira W. Sylvester, city 
engineer, is of the opinion that there are no strainers in the well at 540 and 
620 feet, because pumping well. No. 2 does not affect the water level in well 
No. I. Yield of well April 16,1902, 53 gallons in 26 seconds. On August 
6 the depth of water was about 110 feet. 

Well corner St. James and Fourth streets. — Diameter, 2 inches; flowed 
originally 10 feet above the surface; flowed intermittently from 1894 until 
1899. On August 6, 1902, well was sounded and found to be 606 feet deep; 

443 



196 Geol. Surv. IvA, Report of 1905 [buli,. 4 

bottom of the casing was filled with about 50 feet of sand; plumb bob finally 
struck hard bottom. 

In order to obtain some idea of the effect of pumping the waterworks 
wells a number of observations were made on the wells at the city hall and 
St. James and Fourth streets, on August 6 and 7, 1902. Both of the water- 
works wells had been pumped steadilj' up to this time, and well No. i was 
cut out from 10.15 a. m. to 6 p. m., August 6. The water in the city hall 
well rose steadily after the pumping of No. i ceased, indicating that these 
two wells depend on a common horizon. The well at the corner of St. James 
and Fourth streets, however, did not show any fluctuation which could 
clearly be attributed to the increased demand on well No. 2. 



937. In 1900 a well was started for the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and 
Southern Railway, near the round-house, by the Hart Well Company. Mr. 
Hart has furnished the following statement regarding it: "The well was 
drilled to a depth of 858 feet. Water was struck at 850 feet, but, through 
a disagreement with the railroad company, was not developed. A consider- 
able thickness of sandstone was penetrated before reaching 850 feet; below, 
this was loose sand " 

The following has been taken from a blueprint, dated February, 1890, 
on file in the Iron Mountain Railway office at Bearing Cross, Ark.: 

Partial record of well of St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, 
Alexandria, Rapides Parish, La. 

Port Hudson: Feet. 

1. Soil c- 60 

2. White sand .60- 75 

3. Yellow sand 75- 80 

4. Bowlders 80- 90 

Catahoula: 

5. Solid reck 90-110 

6 "Slate" (blue clay), and sand rock 110-390 

7. Sand rock 390-402 

8. "Shale" (blue clay), sand rock, and blue soap- 

stone (blue clay) 402-520 

9. Sand rock ' 520-528 

10. "Shale" (blue clay), sand rock, and blue soap- 
stone 528-5 ,0 

Casing, 6-inch, 0-303 feet; 4-inch, 300-482 feet. 

444 



vhatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 197 

938. In 1902 two test wells were put down on the property of the Alexan- 
dria Ice and Storage Company, near the corner of Monroe and Sixth 
streets, by the Andrews Well Company. Mr. James Drouant, foreman, has 
furnished the followinj^j data: "In well No. i water was struck at 480 and 
5S0 feet; stratum at 480 feet yield 60 gallons per minute; water from 580 
feet stood within 60 feet of the surface." 

Section of second test welt of the Alexandria Ice and Storage Company , 
Alexandria, Raptdes Parish, La. 

[By James Drouant.] 

Feet. 

1. Clay 0-150 

2. White sand 150-155 

3- Clay 155-176 

4. Rock 1 76-180 

5- Clay J 80-330 

6. Sandstone 330-375 

7- Clay 375-410 

8. Shale . 4 ic-450 

9. Sand 450-510 

10. White rock 5 ro-520 

11. Clay 520-545 

1 2. Sand . . 545-580 

13. Green clay, typical Catahoula (Grand Gulf) 

material 580-621 

These horizons are clearly the same as those developed in the waterworks 
■wells. The depth to the water is about what would be expected because of 
the depression of the water table produced by the pumping at the water- 
works. 

As neither of these wells furnished the amount of water required by the 
ice factory, they were abandoned. 



939. After the abandonment of the two Andrews test wells, a new well 
was drilled by the Hart Well Company on the Fifth street line of the pro- 
perty. Harris gives the following section: 

Section of welt of Alexandria Ice and Storage Company, Alexandtia, Rap- 
ides Parish, La^^ 

[By G. D. Harris.] 

Feet. 

1. Surface clay " o - 21 

2. Sand 21 - 23 

3- Clay 23 -38 

37Water-Sup. and Irr. Paper No. loi, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1904, p. 20. 

445 



198 Gkol. Surv. La. Report op 1905 [buivI,. 4 

4. Rock 38 - 65 

5. Blue clay 65 -153 

6. Hard rock 153 -155 

7. Blue clay 155 -175 

S.Rock 175 -183 

9. Blue joint clay ... 183 -328 

10. Limestone 328 -331 

II- Clay 331 -374 

12. Hardpan 374 -464 

13. Hard limestone 464 -466.5 

14. Green clay 466.5-478.5 

15. Hard rock 478.5-480 

16. Blue clay 48,0 -490 

17. Sandstone 490 -504 

18. Clay 504 -534 

19. Sand ... 534 -537 

20. Rock 537 -539 

21- Clay 539 -549 

22. Sdud 549 -550 

23- Clay 550 -558 

24. Sand 5^8 -560 

25. Blue clay 560 -649 

26. Sand 649 -665 

27. Clay 665 -693 

28. Sand 693 -703 

29. Blue clay 703 -727 

30. Soft sandstone 727 -780 

31. Clay 780 -804 

32. Sand 804 -809 

33. Soft sandstone 809 -851 

34. Clay ...; 851 -853 

35 Sandstone 853 -897 

36. Sand 897 -927 

"Thfs well is provided with a 70-foot strainer, and before it was cleaned 

had a flow of 125 gillons a minute, according to the report of a local 
paper." 

The fact that this is a flowing well indicates a stratum entirely distinct 
from those developed in the waterworks wells. 



446 



I 



veatchI Underground Water of Northern La. 199 

94:0. Section of -well of Sonia Cotton Oil Company, Alexandria, Rapides 

Parish, La. 

[By Ira W. Sylvester.] 

Port Hudson: Feet. 

1 . Sandy soil c- 5 

2. Cla}' 5-60 

3. Shelly rock 6c- 65 

4. Sharp iand, water bearing 65- 95 

5. Claj' and gravel 95-110 

Sabine: 

4. Rock 64- 

5- Clay -77 

6. Lignite 77- 85 

7. Fine sand, with turbid water 85- 

8. Rock .... 1 1 5-1 16 

9. Fine sand, water bearing 1 16- 

10. No record -287.5 

Casing, 4-inch, 0-85 feet; 2.5 -inch, 85-168 feet. Water was brackish and 
well is not used. 



941. Section of -veil of Ball Sawmill Company, Ball, Rapides Parish, La. 

[By Oscar Shanks.] 
Catahoula: 

1. Yellow clay o- 17 

2. Soft blue sandstone 17- 22 

3. Fine sand and claj' 22- 48 

4. Medium sandstone 48- 60 

5. Blue clay 60-310 

6. Fine water sand mixed with lignite and mica. . 310-365 
This stratum was cased off and an attempt made to get flowing water, 

but the well was abandoned. 



943. Section of ivell of Texas and Pacific Railroad Company, Boyce, Rap- 
ides Parish, La. 

[By Charles Anderson] 

Feet. 

1. Clay o - 42 

2. White sand 42 - 62 

3. Hard clay 62 - 82 

447 



200 GkoIv. Surv. La. Report of 1905 [bui,i.. 4 

Feet. 

4. Clay and sand 82 -145 

5. Sandstone 145 -156 

6. Clay 156 -180.5 

7. Sandstone 180.5-204.2 

8. Sand 204.2-215.2 

9. Blue clay 215.2-217.2 

10. Flint Rock , 217. 2-221. 2 

11. Hard clay 221.2-263.2 

12. Quicksand 263.2-279.2 

13. Clay 279.2-281.2 

14. Sand and clay 281.2-300.2 

15. Clay 300.2-318.4 

16. Sandstone 318.4-325.4 

17- Clay ; 325.4-329.4 

i8' Sandstone 329.4-335.4 

19- Clay 335.4-344.4 

20. Sandstone 344. 4-368.4 

21. Clay 368.4-376.4 

22. Sandstone 376.4-398.4 

23. Clay 398.4-411.4 

24. Flint rock (quartzite) 411. 4-418. 8 

25. Clay 4188-438.8 

26. Sandstone 438.8-441.2 

27. Clay 441 .2-529.2 

28. Sandstone 529 2-531.2 

29. Hardpan 531. 2-541. 2 

30. Gravel and clay 54 1. 2-616 

31. Sandstone "616 -696 

32. Sand, with artesian water 696 -708 

33. Flint rock (quartzite) 708 -711 

34 . No record 711 -774 

35. Soft sandstone 774 -802 

36. Soft sandstone, with brackish artesian water. 802 -S08.6 

"Depth September 14, 1898, 808.6 feet. Pipe was pulled back to 696 feet 
and well used until 1901, when it caved." 



944-. When this well is pumped the water lowers to 40 feet from the sur- 
face. It requires about eight days to entirely recover — that is, to flow. 
The original pressure at the top of the pipe was 15 pounds to the square 
inch. 

448 



vratch] Underground Water of Northern La. 201 

947. Section of ivell of L. C. Sauford, Lavioihe, Rapides Patish, La. 

[By Iv. C. Saiiford.] 

Port Hudson: Keet. 

1. Soil, sand and clay o- 35 

2. Quicksand; does not yield the water readily .... 35- 80 

3. Tough red clay 80- 95 

4. Sand and gravel, with abundant supply of hard 

water 95-105 



950. Sections of wells of Pineville Development Company, Pineville, 
Rapides Parish, La. 

[By F. S. Hoyt.] 

WELL No. I. Feet. 

1. Gravel, water bearing 2co - 

2. Light-greenish clay (Catahoula) 235.5- 

3. Gravel, waterbearing; water flowed out of pipe 

55 feet above the ground for four hours 430 -440 

4. Sand ; lost water at 460 - 

5. Soft limestone 580 -600 

Total depth -720 

WELL No. 2. 
I. Clay, with a little sand o -100 

WELL No. 3. 

1. Soil o -12 

2. Packed sand 12 -112 

3. Rock 112 -124 

4. Gravel from size of pea to that of a hen's egg, 

with a little water 124 -230 

Total depth (August 8, 1902) . -230 



951. Mr. Oscar Shanks has furnished the following samples from this 
well: 

Samples from asylum ivell, Pineville, Rapides Patish, La. 

Feet. 

1. Medium to coarse reddish-yellow quartz sand 2C- 24 

2. Fine white indurated sand 24- 35 

3. Very fine light-gray sandy silt 52- 92 

449 



202 Geol. Surv. L,a. Report of 1905 [bui.i„ 4 

4. Clay conglomerate, composed of small rounded Keet. 

clay pebbles containing considerable lime. . . . 228- 324 

5. Fine-grained white sand 324- 328 

6. Light-gray clay with rounded calcareous clay 

pebbles 328- 428 

7. Hard gray fine-grained quartzitic sandstone. ... 455- 461 

8 . Green clay : . 46 [- 540 

9. Green clay and fine gray sand 540- 610 

10. Green clay and fine gray sand, with numerous 

thin calcareous plates that resemble shell frag- 
ments, but which cannot be definitely proved 

to be of organic origin 610- 650 

XI. Greenish-gray clayey sand 720- 800 

12. Medium white sand, with a little clay 800- 806 

13. Very fine gray clayey sand ... 806- 925 

14. Rounded white calcareous concretions, lignite 

and gray laminated lignitic sand 927- 

15. Greenish clay, lignite and sand; a few thin 

white calcareous plates similar to those in 

sample 10 925- 985 

16. Fine greenish-gray sand 985-1,020 



952. Section of well at Judge Morrow's residence, near Rapides, Rapides 

Parish, La. 

[By C. A. Morrow.] 

Port Hudson : Feet. 

1. Soil , o- 8 

2. Red cla}' 8-77 

3. Sand 77-102 

4. Gravel 102-106 



953. Partial section of deep test well near Rat>ides , Rapides Parish, La, 

[By C. A. Morrow.] 

Port Hudson: Feet. 

1. Soil o- 8 

2. Red clay 8-77 

3. Sand 77-102 

4. Gravel 102-108 



Catahoula: 

5. Clay 108-1 

6. White sand, water bearing; water soft and pure 

and did net overflow 180- 

450 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 203 

7. Artesian water '. ." 288- 

8. Quicksand, which forced its way up in the pipe 

80 feet and caused the well to be abandoned . . 323- 



956. Section oj well of J. At Bentley Lumber Company, Zimmerman, 
Rapides Parish, La. 

[By J. A, Bentley.] 
Port Hudson: Feet. 

1. Alluvial deposits o - 60 

Catahoula: 

2. Soft rock and clay, alternating 60 -175.5 

3. Rather coarse white sand, containing artesian 

water I75 5- 

960. Partial section of ivell at Lake End, Red River Parish, La. 

[By Charles Stoer ] 
Port Hudson: Feet. 

1 . Clay soil o- 

2. Quicksand. 

3. Gravel - 64 



966. Mr. W. A. Shields, superintendent, reports water bearing sand at 
the following depths: 188-190, 220-230, 251-264, 436-444, 460-462, 505-507, 
524-528, 536-540, 545-549, 560-566, 670-704 feet. Screens have been placed 
opposite each of these layers. At 454 and 557 feet a little oil is reported. 
Mr. L. B. ClifiFord, the driller, states that seven beds of lignite were en- 
countered in this well. 

Mr. Robert Moechel reports the following: "Reaction, faintly alkaline 
to litmus. Appearance, turbid, with brown sediment. Microscopically, 
the sediment showed the presence of refuse matter. The water after 
twenty-four hours' sedimentation contained the following: 

Analysis of water from deep well at Loring, Sabine Parish, La. 

[By Robert Moechel.] 

Parts per million. 

K,0 15.91 

Na^O : 25.66 

CI 27.00 

SO3 1545 

NO3 1.77 

SiO^ 50.20 

AljOj (in clay) 1.20 

451 



204 Geol. Surv. IvA. Report of 1905 [buli.. 4 

Fe303+A]p3 .." 7.10 

CaO 2.68 

MgO 1.44 

SO 1.47 

HYPOTHETICAL COMBINATION. 

Sodium chloride ... ..... 43.67 

Potassium sulphate • • • 27. 79 

Sodium sulphate 94-94 

Sodium nitrate 2 .43 

Sodium carbonate 4.30 

Silica -|-clay 5i-4o 

Iron -(-alumina 7.10 

Calcium sulphate . 2.49 

Calcium carbonate 2.94 

Magnesium carbonate 3, 02 

"Suspended and settled matter contains 531.2 parts of solid matter per 
million, composed of 42.9 parts mineral matter, quite a per cent of which 
is phosphates. 

"This is not a mineral nor sanitary water analysis. Determinations have 
been made so as to be able to render an intelligent opinion as to the suitability 
of this water for economically generating steam, etc. This water contains 
sewage." 

From a knowledge of the location and surroundings of this well, the 
writer is inclined to believe that the water is not contaminated. Water 
derived from these lignitiferous beds containing considerable organic mat- 
ter and chlorine must necessarily show characteristics which are in other 
regions interpreted as indicating sewage. This well is situated on a knoll 
with no polluting source near it; is cased and the water sands amply pro- 
tected by clayey layers. So far as the possibilities of pollution are concerned 
the deep-well water is greatly to be preferred to the water from the shallow 
wells which are now exclusively used at this place for the supply of drink- 
ing water. 



969. Section of Faster well, 2.5 miles southwest of Negreet, Sabine Parish, 

[By William Kennedy. 1 

Feet. 

1. Soil and clay o- 18 

2. Quicksand , 18- 23 

3. Blue clay, changing to blue shale 23- 50 

4. Blue limestone 50- 52 



Jull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 212, 1903, p. 55 

452 



I 



vhatch] Underground Watkr of Northern La. 205 

5. Blue clay, with bowlders; first sign of oil at 75 

feet 52-75 

6. Blue shale, oil signs, and plenty of gas 75-200 

7. Lignite 200-205 

8. Blue shale and gas 205-340 

g. Hrovvn gunnny shale, oil on water 340-350 

10. Blue shale with oil and gas 350-430 

11. Slate colored talcky rock 430-494 

12. Bluish-gray lime rock, very hard; gas blew out 

drillings 494-502 

13. Tan-colored shale, with yellow sand 502-542 

14. Milky-white talcose rock 542-580 

15. Blue shale, with small white pebbles 580-600 

16. Blue, hard, and flinty limestone; gas under this 

rock 600-604 

17. Shells and pebbles, with strong indications of 

oil and much gas 604-630 



971. The water-bearing layer at 160 feet is very thin, and was developed 
by pumping sand out until a sufficient cavity was made to yield a fair supply 
of water. There is no strainer in the well. 

972. Analysis of water from FerreWs mineral well, near Pleasant Hill, 

Sabine Parish, La. 

[By Maurice Bird.] 

Parts per million. 

Silica 61.56 

Peroxide of iron and alumina 10.26 

Calcium 875.52 

Magnesia 1,134.02 

Potash 3.42 

Sodium 884.07 

Sulphuric anhydride 3,062.61 

Chlorine 2,110.14 

Carbonic acid 206.91 

Oxygen absorbed from potassium permanganate in 

three hours i . 64 2 

HYPOTHETICAL COMBINATION. 

Sodium chloride (common salt) 2,24 r.i 

Calcium chloride 1, 162.8 

Calcium sulphate i ,368.0 

Magnesium sulphate . 3,231.9 

Magnesium bicarbonate 171. o 

453 



2o6 Geoi.. Surv. IvA.. Report of 1905 [buli,. 4 

"On ignition, the residue obtained from evaporation fuses and darkens, 
quickly becoming white, however. The water is perfectly clear and color- 
less and does not contain sufficient organic matter to make it unwholesome. 
The mineral ingredients of this water are so high that it may properly be 
called a medicine, and for this reason it should be used only in cases of 
sickness, and then only upon the prescription of a physician who is acquain- 
ted with its composition. The reaction of the water with litmus is slightly 
acid." 



974. Mr. Coxe, superintendent, reports that a small vein of lignite was 
encountered at about 75 feet; and that three water-bearing sands were 
encountered between ico and 195 feet, the one between 100 and 120 being 
the thickest of the three. 



975. Section of ivill of Latannier Oil Company, izmilessouth of Melville, 
St. Landry Parish, La. 

[By Oscar Shanks.] 

Feet. 

1. River deposits o- 20 

2. Blue clay 20- 150 

3. Gravel and bowlders 150- . 232 

4. Hard blue flinty rock 232- 336 

5. Caving brown gravel 33^- 532 

6. Hard blue flinty ro:k 532- 537 

7. Coarse blue sand, with a large flow of pure soft 

water 537- 555 

8. Gumbo shale 555-1.452 

9. Pepper-and-salt sand, with a strong flow of water 

having a slight sulphur taste 1,452-1,458 

10. Strata of gumbo and rock containing strong 

artesian sulphur water 1,458-2,003 

Occasional layers of sand and shells are reported in stratum 10. 

978. Sections of test borings in Ouachita River at Loch Lotnond, Union 

Parish, La.^'^ 

BORING No. 22. 

Depth iuF eet. 

1. Brown sand, with small percentage of gravel. . . . 0.00 

2. Greensand marl, with medium percentage of clay 20.47 

3. Greensand marl, with small percentage of clay. . 3448 

4. Very stiff greensand and mud 42. 16 

5. Very stiff greensand and mud 50 co 



39 Ann. Rept. Chief of EJngineers for 1902, pt. 2, 1902, p. 1566. 

454 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern La. 207 

BORING No. 22a. 

Depth in Feet. 

1. Brown sand and mud o.oo 

2. Brown sand, with small percentage of gravel. . . . 0.99 

3. Greensand marl, with large percentage of clay. . 13-88 

4. Greensand marl, with small percentage of clay . 32.68 

5. Very stiff greensand and mud 39-37 

6- Very stiff greensand and nmd 50.00 



082. Analyses of brines from Bistetieau Salt Works, Webster Parish, 

[By Maurice Bird.] 



Constituents (in psrts per hundred). 



Sodium chloride .... 
Calcium chloride . . 
Magnesium chloride 

Alumina 

Other solid matter. 



Bryan's 
well. 



8450 
-234 
.ro2 
.056 
.088 



Potters 
Pond 



7.810 
.301 
.156 
.052 
-061 



Head of 
Salt Island. 



3.800 
-081 
.083 
.056 
.058 



983. Section of well of Valley Lumber Company, Cotton Valley, Webster 

Parish, La. 

[By L. B. Cifford.] 

Feet. 

1. Red clay 0-40 

2. Red sand 40- 45 

3. Blue clay and rock 200-245 

4. White sand 245-271 



985. Section of well of Minden Lumber Company, Minden, Webster 

Parish, La. 

« [By C. L. Whitmarsh.] 

Sabine: Feet. 

1. White clay c- 20 

2. Fine sand 20- 70 

3- Clay 70-71 

4. Lignite (1 foot thick) 71- 72 

5. Sand and clay 72-110 

6. Coarse white water-bearing sand 1 10-120 

4oGeol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, p. 89. 

455 



2o8 Geoi.. Surv. La.. Report of 1905 [bui^i,. 4 

Feet 
7- Clay 120-244 

8. Lignite 244-247 

9. Water-bearing sand, increasing in coarseness 

with depth 247-317 

986. Mr. h. B. Clifford states that the sand encountered in this well at 
no feet, which furnishes water at the ice factory, yields practically no 
water at this point. 



988. Seclion of well oj Minden Cotton Oil and Ice Company, Minden, 
Webster Parish, La. 

[By S. G. Webb, president.] 

Sabine? : Peet. 

1. Surface sands and clay 0-60 

2. Sand 60- 75 

Sabine: 

3. Dark-colored clay 7,5-100 

4. Water sand loo-i 15 



989. The water from the lower layer in this well is shut out and the well 
draws entirely from the stratum between 228 and 270 feet. Both horizons 
furnish good soft water. 

990. Mr. A. L/. Pullin states that he worked on this well until it reached 
a depth of 750 feet and that the well was afterwards drilled to a depth of 
1,015 feet. He gives the following partial record: 

Partial record of well at Yellow Pine, Webster Parish, La. 

[By A. I,. Pullin.] 

Feet. 

1. Log at 280- 

2. Layers of rock. 

3. Marl that looks like slack lime 600-640 

4. Rock , ^o-6So 

5. Blue clay, with a very offensive smell 680-750 

"No water was encountered to a depth of 750 feet. Casing, 4-inch, 0-500; 
3-inch, 500-750." 

Mr. H. C. Walter, woods foreman for the Globe Lumber Company, who 
was at Yellow Pine when the well was drilled, gives the total depth as 800 
feet. He says: "The matter passed through was a black sticky clay, with 
a very bad odor, and was full of shells of all kinds. In some places the 

456 



veatch] Underground Water of Northern I^a. 



209 



clay changed to verj' hard rock. At a depth of 500 feet a log was struck 
which was supposed to be a cypress. They finally struck a very hard sub- 
stance, which effectully stopped work with a rotary rig." 

991. Section of well of Texas and Pacific Railway, Baton Rouge Junction, 

IVest Baton Rouge Parish, La. 

[By Charles Anderson.] 

Feet. 

O- 10 

10-100 

lOO-IIO 

IIO- 



1 . Black clay 

2. Heavy clay 

3. Quicksand 

4. Coarse sand, not passed through 



994. Analyses of brines from Drakes Salt Works, Winn Parish, La.* 

[By Maurice Bird.] 



Constituents (in parts per hundred). 



Sodium chloride. . . . 
Calcium chloride . . 
Magnesium chloride 

Alumina . 

Other solid matter. . 



I. 


II. 


III. 


4.90 


3-55 


5-58 


.184 


.127 


.303 


.142 


.133 


.135 


.061 


.066 


.072 


.083 


.044 


.070 



5-44- 
•356 
.159 
• 055 
.030 



I. Little lick, west side, old Drake well. 
II. Smith's lick. 

III. Lower lick, old Drake well. 

IV. Upper lick, south side, in slough. 

995. A?talysis of brine frotn Price's Salt Works, Winn Parish, La.*'' 

[By Maurice Bird.] 

Per cent. 

Sodium chloride 3. 14 

Calcium chloride .079 

Magnesium chloride . 138 

Alumina .050 

Other solid matter .030 

999. This well was largely through porous cryslalliue limestone similar 

to that seen in a number of Cretaceous exposures in northern Louisiana. 

Between 250 and 260 feet a large amount of gas was encountered, which 

was used for fuel in the engines of the drilling machines. The well was 

finally abandoned because of the heavy gas pressure, and the company 

planned to start a new hole in January, 1904. Two small oil-bearing layers 

are reported. 

41 Geol. Survey Louisiana, Rept. of 1902, pp. 63-64. 
42Geol. Survey Louisiana, Kept, of 1902, p. 69 

457 



LEMy'09 



I 



